below decks

below decks

1. (nautical) In or into any of the spaces below the main deck of a vessel.
   • 1817, Maria Edgeworth, chapter 31, in Ormond:

     [O]n the wind shifting and becoming more violent, the landsmen soon retired below decks.

   • 1913 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Gods of Mars”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as “Under Arrest”, in The Gods of Mars, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., September 1918, →OCLC, page 117:

     Phaidor and I were taken below decks, where, still fast bound, we were thrown into a small compartment which contained a single port-hole.

• lower deck