ˈhalf-deck
[See deck n.1]
1. lit. A deck covering half the length of a ship or boat, fore or aft: in this sense still used in some small partly open craft. spec. a. In old ships of war: A deck extending from the mainmast aftward, situated between the then smaller quarter-deck and the upper or main deck. After the two decks above the main deck were reduced to one, for which the name ‘quarter-deck’ was retained, ‘half-deck’ survived only in the expression ‘under the half-deck’, applied to the part of the main deck from the main mast aftward, formerly covered by the ‘half-deck’. † b. In colliers: A deck under the main deck, extending forward to near the after-hatch and containing berths, etc., for the crew (obs.).
| 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 7 As the Captaine doth [make good] the halfe decke; and the quarter Maisters the midships. 1627 ― Seaman's Gram. ii. 6 The halfe Decke is from the maine mast to the steareage. 1637 Heywood Royal Ship 45 She hath three flush Deckes and a Forecastle, an halfe Decke, a quarter Decke, and a round⁓house. a 1642 Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 357/1 The other lofty and high charged, with a Half Deck, Fore-Castle, and Copperidge-heads. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2291/4 The said Bark is about 50 Tuns, square Stern, without a Head, an half Deck from the main Mast..and a blue painted Stern. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Half-Deck, a space under the quarter-deck of a ship of war, contained between the foremost bulk-head of the steerage, and the fore-part of the quarter-deck. In the Colliers of Northumberland the steerage itself is called the half-deck, and is usually the habitation of the ship's crew. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay ii, I followed my new friend down the ladder, under the half-deck. 1839 ― Phant. Ship xviii, He confined him in irons under the half-deck. |
2. A local name in U.S. of the Slipper-limpet, Crepidula fornicata, or a related species, which has an under half-shell. (Century Dict.)
Hence ˈhalf-decked a., of a boat, etc.: that is about half covered in or decked; half-ˈdecker, a boat which is half-decked.
| 1872 Daily News 3 Aug., The smaller boats, the wherries and the half-deckers, resembled a collection of small white tents. 1882 Elton Orig. Eng. Hist. (1890) 383 Like the half-decked craft which were used by the later Vikings. |