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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quarter-deck

Quarter-deck \Quar"ter-deck`\, n. (Naut.) That part of the upper deck abaft the mainmast, including the poop deck when there is one.

Note: The quarter-deck is reserved as a promenade for the officers and (in passenger vessels) for the cabin passengers.

Quarter-deck

Deck \Deck\, n. [D. dek. See Deck, v.]

  1. The floorlike covering of the horizontal sections, or compartments, of a ship. Small vessels have only one deck; larger ships have two or three decks. Note: The following are the more common names of the decks of vessels having more than one. Berth deck (Navy), a deck next below the gun deck, where the hammocks of the crew are swung. Boiler deck (River Steamers), the deck on which the boilers are placed. Flush deck, any continuous, unbroken deck from stem to stern. Gun deck (Navy), a deck below the spar deck, on which the ship's guns are carried. If there are two gun decks, the upper one is called the main deck, the lower, the lower gun deck; if there are three, one is called the middle gun deck. Half-deck, that portion of the deck next below the spar deck which is between the mainmast and the cabin. Hurricane deck (River Steamers, etc.), the upper deck, usually a light deck, erected above the frame of the hull. Orlop deck, the deck or part of a deck where the cables are stowed, usually below the water line. Poop deck, the deck forming the roof of a poop or poop cabin, built on the upper deck and extending from the mizzenmast aft. Quarter-deck, the part of the upper deck abaft the mainmast, including the poop deck when there is one. Spar deck.

    1. Same as the upper deck.

    2. Sometimes a light deck fitted over the upper deck.

      Upper deck, the highest deck of the hull, extending from stem to stern.

  2. (arch.) The upper part or top of a mansard roof or curb roof when made nearly flat.

  3. (Railroad) The roof of a passenger car.

  4. A pack or set of playing cards.

    The king was slyly fingered from the deck.
    --Shak.

  5. A heap or store. [Obs.]

    Who . . . hath such trinkets Ready in the deck.
    --Massinger.

  6. (A["e]ronautics) A main a["e]roplane surface, esp. of a biplane or multiplane.

  7. the portion of a bridge which serves as the roadway.

  8. a flat platform adjacent to a house, usually without a roof; -- it is typically used for relaxing out of doors, outdoor cooking, or entertaining guests.

    Between decks. See under Between.

    Deck bridge (Railroad Engineering), a bridge which carries the track upon the upper chords; -- distinguished from a through bridge, which carries the track upon the lower chords, between the girders.

    Deck curb (Arch.), a curb supporting a deck in roof construction.

    Deck floor (Arch.), a floor which serves also as a roof, as of a belfry or balcony.

    Deck hand, a sailor hired to help on the vessel's deck, but not expected to go aloft.

    Deck molding (Arch.), the molded finish of the edge of a deck, making the junction with the lower slope of the roof.

    Deck roof (Arch.), a nearly flat roof which is not surmounted by parapet walls.

    Deck transom (Shipbuilding), the transom into which the deck is framed.

    To clear the decks (Naut.), to remove every unnecessary incumbrance in preparation for battle; to prepare for action.

    To sweep the deck (Card Playing), to clear off all the stakes on the table by winning them.

Wiktionary
quarter-deck

n. (alternative spelling of quarterdeck English)

Usage examples of "quarter-deck".

Captain Hudson, sober, is a rough, bearish seaman, with a quick, experienced eye, that takes in every rope in the ship, as he walks up and down his quarter-deck.

The gloom on the quarter-deck seeped forward, reaching as far as the goat-house, the manger, and even the hawse-holes themselves.

At sunset the Pelorus passed out of the lagoon and as her bow lifted to the long, lazy rollers beyond the outer reef, Dan Pritchard, from her quarter-deck, through a mist gazed back on his Paradise lost.

When the storm was at its height, he posted himself on the quarter-deck, and, with book in hand, proceeded to exorcise all the spirits of hell whom he thought he could see in the clouds, and to whom he pointed for the benefit of the sailors who, believing themselves lost, were crying, howling, and giving way to despair, instead of attending to the working of the ship, then in great danger on account of the rocks and of the breakers which surrounded us.

Sergeant, rather than ask advice -- that is, direct, barefaced advice -- of a foremast hand, or any other than a quarter-deck officer, I would go round to the whole thousand, and examine tbem one by one until we got the right haven.

Christian and Young stood together on the quarter-deck while the sails were clewed up and furled.

He rose, tall, active, and arrestingly elegant in a scarlet, gold-laced coat that advertised his new position, and slipping the slender volume into his pocket, advanced to the carved rail of the quarter-deck, just as Jeremy Pitt was setting foot upon the companion.

On her quarter-deck and poop-bulwarks were fixed in sockets implements of warfare now long in disuse, but what were then known by the names of cohorns and patteraroes.

The Surveyors stand together at the Quarter-deck, Mason in gray stockings, brown breeches, and snuff-color'd Coat with pinchbeck buttons, Dixon in red coat, Breeches, and boots, and a Hat with a severely Military rake to it, waiting the Instruments, both, now, more keenly than at any time during this late sea-passage, feeling like Supercargo, pos'd not before wild seas or exotick landscapes, but among Objects of Oceanick Commerce, as all 'round them Sailors and Dock-men labor, nets lift and sway as if by themselves, bulging with casks of nails and jellied eels, British biscuit and buttons for your waistcoat, Ton-icks, Colognes, golden Provolones.

John and saw him as he had been so long ago, on the quarter-deck of his beautiful Baltimore clipper Huron, when Robyn had been in her early twenties.

Hornblower flung back his boat cloak and stood clear so that he could be seen from the quarter-deck of the Nonsuch.

While this was transacting upon the quarter-deck, a chance-medley fight was going on throughout the ship.

I bade him good morning, standing to leeward of him on the quarter-deck, and he saluted me with a clap on the back.

He led her past the astonished deck watch, past sleeping families camped on the main deck, to his great cabin on the quarter-deck with its sweeping glassed-in stern galley, glittering oil lamps, and big canopied bed.

The ship's bell strikes the half-hour, and as the cries of the three sentries passing the word to the quarter-deck die away, Gabbett, who has been leaning with his back against the door, nudges Jemmy Vetch.