stowaway
(ˈstəʊəweɪ)
[f. vbl. phrase stow away: see stow v.1 6.]
1. A person who hides in a ship in order to escape payment of passage-money, to get to sea unobserved, or to escape by stealth from a country. Hence also, one who steals a passage by aeroplane.
| 1850 Morning Chron. 22 July 6/1 All the passengers were summoned on deck that their names might be read over, their tickets produced, and a search made in the steerage, and in every hole and corner of the ship, for ‘stow-aways’. 1854 Ann. Reg. 191 He had been seized as a ‘stow-away’. 1885 American XI. 78 Forty-seven stowaways were found in the hold of one vessel. 1922 [see scratch n.1 5 b]. 1973 Times 8 Aug. 7/3 (heading) Stowaway takes wrong flight. |
2. gen. Something stowed away. Also, a place where things may be stowed.
| 1913 E. F. Benson Thorley Weir iii, For all these weeks Charles had never touched the cupboard except to insert some further stowaway. 1915 W. J. Locke Jaffery xx, Of all the stowaway places under my control..only one is locked. 1928 Daily Express 21 Mar. 5/3 The window⁓seat top lifts up, and this makes another good stowaway for toys. |