Crossword clues for porthole
porthole
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Porthole \Port"hole`\, n. (Naut.) An embrasure in a ship's side. See 3d Port.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. A circular window set in the hull of a ship.
WordNet
Wikipedia
A porthole, sometimes called bull's-eye window or bull's-eye, is a generally circular window used on the hull of ships to admit light and air. Though the term is of maritime origin, it is also used to describe round windows on armored vehicles, aircraft, automobiles (the Ford Thunderbird a notable example) and even spacecraft.
On a ship, the function of a porthole, when open, is to permit light and fresh air to enter the dark and often damp below- deck quarters of the vessel. It also affords below-deck occupants a limited, but often much needed view to the outside world. When closed, the porthole provides a strong water-tight, weather-tight and sometimes light-tight barrier.
A porthole on a ship may also be called a sidescuttle or side scuttle (side hole), as officially termed in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea. This term is used in the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations. It is also used in related rules and regulations for the construction of ships. The use of the word "sidescuttle" instead of "porthole" is meant to be broad, including any covered or uncovered hole in the side of the vessel.
Usage examples of "porthole".
Looking through the porthole, Ahl saw the great red glare of the funeral fire.
Pseudo-Tudor prevailed, with an admixture of Stockbroker Spanish Colonial, distinguished by green glazed tiles, and one British Bauhaus with a flat roof, small square windows and the occasional porthole to add a nautical air.
It was in this same second-best suit, pressed between mattresses during the voyage, and donned with self-conscious anticipation under a porthole suddenly filled with a static landscape instead of the sea and the sky, that he had emerged from the boat, with that shiny flattened look of sailors ashore.
It was not actually tied to the porthole but to an eyebolt for a chain, fastened into the hull a few inches outside the porthole.
What made him overcareful was the knowledge that portholes in boats this size were ordinarily not large enough for a man to crawl through.
The walls were lined with pipes, valves, instrument panels, and the occasional porthole.
I went below to do the washing-up, tossing the slops out of the porthole into the sea.
He looked through the porthole again, seeing nothing but darkness, thick clouds, and the faint orange straightedge of a starboard fin that was only just cooling down from their entry.
It was a 1953 powder blue Buick with shiny white top, whitewall tires big enough to fit a backhoe, and gleaming chrome portholes.
Flame belched out of a porthole, and the remaining Indians poured up the companionways, yelling in panic.
Through the near porthole Defoe saw the green-brown limb of the planet rising to greet him, edged by a thin corona of atmosphere.
He led them through a corridor to an observation bay at the stern of the sub. Through a large porthole they could see the giant creature floating in the suction stream.
He and certain other adventurers had purchased a vessel of some five hundred tons, which they proposed to convert into a pirate by cutting portholes for cannon, and running three or four carronades across her main deck.
Was the One Called Night hiding in that blackness, peering back at me through those portholes into This Side while it held her spirit trapped in the Nine Beyonds?
From the outside a bubble most resembled a planetoid with portholes, or a little round meteor with craterlets on it, but inside it was a temporary world.