Wiktionary
vb. (context: informal) To drop to a lie or other low position, especially quickly.
WordNet
v. fall or drop suddenly, usually to evade some danger; "The soldiers hit the dirt when they heard gunfire" [syn: hit the dirt]
Wikipedia
Hit the Deck is a musical with music by Vincent Youmans, lyrics by Clifford Grey and Leo Robin and book by Herbert Fields. It was based on the play Shore Leave by Hubert Osborne. Overall, it ran for 352 performances. The title refers to a nautical slang term that means to prepare for action (general) or to drop to a prone position on the ground (as a defensive response to hostile fire).
The original production was staged at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway on April 25, 1927. Charles King played Bilge and Louise Groody played Loulou. The show's co-producers were Youmans and Lew Fields, and Lew Fields co-directed with Alexander Leftwich. The production ran for 352 performances.
The first London production opened at the Hippodrome on July 3, 1927 and ran for 277 performances. It starred Stanley Holloway. In The Manchester Guardian, Ivor Brown praised Holloway for a singing style "which coaxes the ear rather than clubbing the head."
Hit the Deck is a 1930 American musical film directed by Luther Reed, which starred Jack Oakie and Polly Walker, and featured Technicolor sequences. It was based on the musical Hit the Deck, which was itself based on the play, Shore Leave by Hubert Osborne. It was one of the most expensive productions of RKO Radio Pictures up to that time, and one of the most expensive productions of 1930. This version faithfully reproduced the stage version of the musical.
Hit the Deck is a 1955 American musical film directed by Roy Rowland and starring Jane Powell, Tony Martin, Debbie Reynolds, Walter Pidgeon, Vic Damone, Gene Raymond, Ann Miller, and Russ Tamblyn. It is based on the stage musical of the same name – which was itself based on the hit play Shore Leave by Hubert Osborne – and was shot in CinemaScope. Although the film featured some songs from the stage musical, the plot was different. Standards featured in the film include "Sometimes I'm Happy", "I Know that You Know", and "Hallelujah".
Hit the Deck can refer to:
- Hit the Deck (musical), a 1927 musical
- Hit the Deck (1930 film), a 1930 film
- Hit the Deck (1955 film), a 1955 film
Usage examples of "hit the deck".
His neck smashed into pulp, Gaber hit the deck with a terrible thud and gasped out his dying breaths as Terilla was dropped in a heap on top of Cleiti.
Conceivably he was thinking in terms of a flying leap, catch it before it hit the deck.
Finally, when these mighty jets hit the deck they weighed well over seven tons and their speed exceeded 135 miles an hour, yet within 120 feet they were completely stopped and this miracle was accomplished in several ways.
As his feet hit the deck, he saw her lean right to avoid a shot of acid but then the right-hand scorpion slipped past her guard and got its claw on her arm.
It was as if some one had hit the deck outside a single blow with a hammer.
Above me starlight hit the deck after traveling for years and for trillions of miles.
Hunter hit the deck, though the spray from the sea was hard to distin-guish from metal splinters flying around because of the vicious barrage from the flying boat.
But the dead man was still on his feet, still had not hit the deck, when four things happened simultaneously.