What is "booby hatch"

Hatch \Hatch\, n. [OE. hacche, AS. h[ae]c, cf. haca the bar of a door, D. hek gate, Sw. h["a]ck coop, rack, Dan. hekke manger, rack. Prob. akin to E. hook, and first used of something made of pieces fastened together. Cf. Heck, Hack a frame.]

1. A door with an opening over it; a half door, sometimes set with spikes on the upper edge.

   In at the window, or else o'er the hatch.
   --Shak.

2. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.

3. A flood gate; a sluice gate.
   --Ainsworth.

4. A bedstead. [Scot.]
   --Sir W. Scott.

5. An opening in the deck of a vessel or floor of a warehouse which serves as a passageway or hoistway; a hatchway; also; a cover or door, or one of the covers used in closing such an opening.

6. (Mining) An opening into, or in search of, a mine.

   Booby hatch, Buttery hatch, Companion hatch, etc. See under Booby, Buttery, etc.

   To batten down the hatches (Naut.), to lay tarpaulins over them, and secure them with battens.

   To be under hatches, to be confined below in a vessel; to be under arrest, or in slavery, distress, etc.

Booby \Boo"by\ (b[=oo]"b[y^]), n.; pl. Boobies (-b[i^]z). [Sp. bobo dunce, idiot; cf. L. balbus stammering, E. barbarous.]

1. A dunce; a stupid fellow.

2. (Zo["o]l.)

   1. A swimming bird ( Sula fiber or Sula sula) related to the common gannet, and found in the West Indies, nesting on the bare rocks. It is so called on account of its apparent stupidity -- unafraid of men, it allows itself to be caught by a simple and undisguised approach. The name is also sometimes applied to other species of gannets; as, Sula piscator, the red-footed booby; and Sula nebouxii, the blue-footed booby.

   2. A species of penguin of the antarctic seas. Booby hatch

      1. (Naut.), a kind of wooden hood over a hatch, readily removable.

      2. , an insane asylum. [Colloq.] Booby hut, a carriage body put upon sleigh runners. [Local, U. S.] --Bartlett. Booby hutch, a clumsy covered carriage or seat, used in the eastern part of England. --Forby. Booby prize, an award for the poorest performance in a competition; hence, metaphorically, the recognition of a strikingly inferior or incompetent performance. Booby trap

         1. , a schoolboy's practical joke, as a shower bath when a door is opened.

         2. , any concealed device causing surprise or injury when a usually harmless object is touched; -- in military operations, typically containing an explosive charge.

n. (alternative form of booby-hatch English)

n. pejorative terms for an insane asylum [syn: Bedlam, crazy house, cuckoo's nest, funny farm, funny house, loony bin, madhouse, nut house, nuthouse, sanatorium, snake pit]