Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One of the upright partitions dividing a ship into compartments and serving to add structural rigidity and to prevent the spread of leakage or fire.
  • noun A partition or wall serving a similar purpose in a vehicle, such as an aircraft or spacecraft.
  • noun A wall or an embankment, as in a mine or along a waterfront, that acts as a protective barrier.
  • noun Chiefly New England A horizontal or sloping structure providing access to a cellar stairway.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A partition.
  • noun A water-face of a wharf, pier, or sea-wall.
  • noun A horizontal or inclined door giving access from the outside of a house to the cellar.
  • noun In hydraulic mining the pressure-box or -tank at the end of a water-ditch or flume from which the water-pipes lead to the nozles.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Naut.) A partition in a vessel, to separate apartments on the same deck.
  • noun A structure of wood or stone, to resist the pressure of earth or water; a partition wall or structure, as in a mine; the limiting wall along a water front.
  • noun a line beyond which a wharf must not project; -- usually, the harbor line.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun nautical A vertical partition dividing the hull into separate compartments; often made watertight to prevent excessive flooding if the ship's hull is breached.
  • noun A similar partition in an aircraft or spacecraft.
  • noun Mechanically, a partition or panel through which connectors pass, or a connector designed to pass through a partition.
  • noun A pressure-resistant sealed barrier to any fluid in a large structure.
  • noun A retaining wall along a waterfront.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a partition that divides a ship or plane into compartments

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[bulk, stall, partition (perhaps of Scandinavian origin) + head.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bulk +‎ head

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Examples

Comments

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  • Get the rocks in the box

    Get the water right down to your socks

    This bulkhead's built of fallen brethren bones.

    (Rox in the box, by The Decemberists)

    January 19, 2011