The Collaborative International Dictionary
Beakhead \Beak"head`\, n.
(Arch.) An ornament used in rich Norman doorways, resembling a head with a beak.
--Parker.-
(Naut.)
A small platform at the fore part of the upper deck of a vessel, which contains the water closets of the crew.
(Antiq.) Same as Beak,
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context nautical English) A protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship. 2 (context archaeology English) An ornament used in rich Norman doorways, resembling a head with a beak.
Wikipedia
A beakhead is the protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship. It was fitted on sailing vessels from the 16th to the 18th century and served as a working platform by sailors working the sails of the bowsprit, the forward-pointing mast that carries the spritsails. The beakhead would be one of the most ornate sections of a ship, particularly in the extravagant Baroque-style ships of the 17th century. The sides were often decorated with carved statues and located directly underneath was the figurehead, usually in the form of animals, shields or mythological creatures. The beakhead also housed the crew's toilets ( head), which would drop refuse straight into the sea without sullying the ship's hull unnecessarily.
Category:Sailboat components
Usage examples of "beakhead".
Not all the passengers possessed the necessary spirit to crouch out on the beakhead of the ship and perform their necessary functions there, with the warm sea lapping at their arse.
Aevil Matusian, common soldier, lost overboard in the forenoon watch, washed out of the beakhead by a green sea.
But a raking broadside at that range should do enormous damage to the Frenchman, the roundshot smashing through the beakhead bulkheads at the bow to travel the length of the ship, overturning guns, cutting down men and sending up a lethal shower of splinters.
He ducked through them and worked his way up to the beakhead bulkhead, conscious just as he reached it that a French voice was shouting a challenge.
Another glance forward showed at least two more fires had been started, one against the beakhead bulkhead and another by the knightheads.
Ophelia, like many figureheads of her day, had been arrayed upon the beakhead of the ship, rather than positioned below the bowsprit.
Suppose he were to dash his beakhead against you, would not his greater mass bear you down, as the Turks were borne down at Lepanto?
Besides a thorough holystone fore and aft, salt-stained sides were sluiced with fresh water, brightwork brought to a thorough gleam and the seadulled colors around the beakhead and figurehead touched up to their usual striking splendor.
The onrushing wave then exploded against the beakhead in sheets of spray, which fell heavily on him.
Right at the forward end of the squared-off deck, before the massive carved work of the beakhead dropped away below, was a splendid place to be.
The bosun is just going to report that the mainyard is probably sprung in the slings: the mizen doubtful in the woulding: the beakhead bulkhead is stove.
Lewrie took some bum fod- der in his hand and made a postprandial journey to the heads up by the beakhead under the jib-boom.
The ship slammed her bows into a wave as the stem lifted once more, the beakhead buried in foam, and she lurched as if she had been punched right in the mouth.
His sister Belinda was a figurehead on a ship ofthe line, and the sailors fondled her bare breasts as they sat on the beakhead rails to relieve themselves.
Privacy for his bowels was another luxury to which he was unaccustomed, having to share the beakhead roundhouse with the other inferior petty officers, or the open rail seats if he was caught short.