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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Buttery 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.

Buttery hatch

Buttery \But"ter*y\, n.; pl. Butteries. [OE. botery, botry; cf. LL. botaria wine vessel; also OE. botelerie, fr. F. bouteillerie, fr. boutellie bottle. Not derived from butter. See Bottle a hollow vessel, Butt a cask.]

  1. An apartment in a house where butter, milk and other provisions are kept.

    All that need a cool and fresh temper, as cellars, pantries, and butteries, to the north.
    --Sir H. Wotton.

  2. A room in some English colleges where liquors, fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the students.

    And the major Oxford kept the buttery bar.
    --E. Hall.

  3. A cellar in which butts of wine are kept.
    --Weale.

    Buttery hatch, a half door between the buttery or kitchen and the hall, in old mansions, over which provisions were passed.
    --Wright.

Usage examples of "buttery hatch".

The only communication between the yard and the house was an opening not unlike a buttery hatch.

Though my stomach had earlier troubled me, now I felt a great hunger and made my way to the buttery hatch where one could obtain a serving of bread and cheese upon demand.