▪ I. ˈquarter-deck, n. Naut.
† a. Originally, a smaller deck situated above the half-deck (q.v.), covering about a quarter of the vessel. Obs. b. In later use: That part of the upper or spar-deck which extends between the stern and after-mast, and is used as a promenade by the superior officers or cabin-passengers. Also transf.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. ii. 6 The halfe Decke is from the maine mast to the steareage, and the quarter Decke from that to the Masters Cabin called the round house, w{supc}{suph} is the vtmost of all. 1667 Denham Direct. Paint. i. 55 Each Captain from his Quarter-deck commands. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. iii. 29 Many of the principal Officers were on the quarter-deck, indulging in the freshness of the night air. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii. 67 The chief mate walking the quarter-deck, and keeping a general supervision. 1884 Pae Eustace 67 I'd have you to remember that you are not on the quarter-deck just now. 1976 National Trust Autumn 17/3 Still unchanged are the ‘quarter-deck’, a path laid so that the children could reach the river without getting muddy [etc.]. |
| fig. 1853 Lytton My Novel i. x, Too old a sailor to think that the State..should admit Jack upon quarterdeck. |
| attrib. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 167 Each Ship is to answer the other with a Quarter-Deck Gun. 1797 Nelson in A. Duncan Life (1806) 42 A Spanish officer looked over the quarter-deck rail. 1828 P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 299 When surgeon of a brig of war, my quarter-deck promenade was confined to eight paces. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast ix. 19 The quarter-deck dignity and eloquence of the captain. 1850 H. Melville White-Jacket xxiii. 117 See, White Jacket, all round they have shipped their quarter-deck faces again... I afterward learned that this was an old man-of-war's-man's phrase, expressive of the facility with which a sea-officer falls back upon all the severity of his dignity, after a temporary suspension of it. 1893 W. C. Russell Emigrant Ship I. iv. 53, I saluted him with a quarter-deck flourish. 1927 H. D. Capper Aft ― from Hawsehole p. xii, There are close upon three thousand naval officers of ‘hawsehole origin’..who are, or have been, performing fine quarter-deck service for their country. |
Hence ˈquarter-decker, -deckish (see quots.).
| 1867 Smyth Sailors' Word-bk., Quarter-Deckers, those officers more remarkable for etiquette than for a knowledge of seamanship. Ibid., Quarter-Deckish, punctilious, severe. 1889 A. Conan Doyle Micah Clarke 244 It's your blue-coated, gold-braided..quarter-deckers that talk of canes. |
▪ II. ˈquarter-deck, v.
[f. the n.]
intr. To walk up and down as on a quarter-deck. So ˈquarter-decking vbl. n.
| 1901 E. F. Benson Luck of Vails xviii. 207 He continued quarter-decking about the room for a few times in silence. 1913 Mrs. H. Ward Coryston Family viii. 164 The quarter-decking began again; and Lester waited patiently on a slowly subsiding frenzy. 1924 Kipling Debits & Credits 87 There was Potiphar..quarter-decking serenely below the Pebble-ridge. 1954 ‘M. Coles’ Not for Export i. 20 ‘This it is’, said Spelmann, swinging round at each turn of his quarter-decking..‘to work hard and be successful.’ |