Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A strong transverse beam of timber or iron stretching across a ship from side to side, in order to support the deck and retain the sides at their proper distance.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • She was a great ship (as I say) of some two hundred tons at least, with high forecastle and lofty stern, though I saw little else ere, at a sign from Adam I followed him down the after-gangway where, taking a flickering lanthorn that hung from a deck-beam, he led me

    Black Bartlemy's Treasure Jeffery Farnol 1915

  • And he sat up, bumped his head, groped round until his hand fell upon a doorknob, opened the door, and looked out into the blowsy emptiness of the ship's cabin proper, whose gloomy confines were made visible only by the rays of a dingy and smoky lamp swinging violently in gimbals from a deck-beam.

    The Black Bag Louis Joseph Vance 1906

  • Feeling instinctively that something was wrong, I leaped from my hammock -- as also did Courtenay, my only companion in the berth -- and began hurriedly to search for my clothes by the dim light of the smoky lamp which hung swaying from the deck-beam overhead.

    The Rover's Secret A Tale of the Pirate Cays and Lagoons of Cuba Harry Collingwood 1886

  • MS., played, as all know, a most important part on the voyage, in forcing the "cracked and bowed" deck-beam of the ship into place.

    The Mayflower and Her Log; July 15, 1620-May 6, 1621 — Complete Azel Ames 1876

  • Lady Dalrymple squawked her sympathy at sight of the minute cabin, which the two cots almost filled, and every one's head, inevitably, bumped against the deck-beam above.

    Mr. Midshipman Easy Marryat, Frederick, 1792-1848 1873

  • Now be sure you lash that kettle securely to the deck-beam, Luka.

    Condemned as a Nihilist A Story of Escape from Siberia Walter Paget 1867

  • "Then I think we had better let Mr. Hines hear the story, for it is part of his duty to look up cases of this kind," replied Squire Simonton, as he rose from his seat, and bumped his head against a deck-beam.

    Little Bobtail or The Wreck of the Penobscot. Oliver Optic 1859

  • He lighted a match, and discovered a lantern hanging from a deck-beam.

    All Adrift or The Goldwing Club Oliver Optic 1859

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