gun-deck Naut.
A deck which carries guns; esp. in an old-fashioned ship of the line, the lowest of the decks on which guns are placed. Also attrib.
| 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1250/2 The English soon obliged them to quit their Upper-deck, and betake themselves to their Gun⁓deck. 1687 Ibid. No. 2251/4 Could we have played our whole Gun-Deck Fire. 1691 Ibid. No. 2690/4 The St. David is now got up so far, that her Gun Deck is dry at Low Water. 1691 T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. 125 Having found..the distance of Trunnions of the Guns from the Gun-deck..to determine the place of the Gun-deck. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) Ll. 4 b, The gun-deck..is flush without cabins or bulk-heads. Ibid., Gun-room, an appartment on the after end of the lower, or gun-deck, of a ship of war. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 427 On her gun deck is the hospital, on the main deck the officers' quarters and the exercise ground for the sailors. |