STEERAGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does steerage mean? 

• STEERAGE (noun)
  The noun STEERAGE has 2 senses:

1. the cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship

2. the act of steering a ship

  Familiarity information: STEERAGE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STEERAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("steerage" is a kind of...):

accommodation (living quarters provided for public convenience)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of steering a ship

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

steerage; steering

Hypernyms ("steerage" is a kind of...):

control (the activity of managing or exerting control over something)

Holonyms ("steerage" is a part of...):

navigation; sailing; seafaring (the work of a sailor)

Derivation:

steer (direct the course; determine the direction of travelling)

 Context examples 

“Shall I look for him in the steerage, sir?” I asked.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

On ships at sea he had always been in the forecastle, the steerage, or in the black depths of the coal-hold, passing coal.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

By this time we had got so far out of the run of the current that we kept steerage way even at our necessarily gentle rate of rowing, and I could keep her steady for the goal.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There was an angry gleam in the hunter’s eye, but he turned on his heel and entered the steerage companion-way, where he remained, looking upward.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

As it is forward and in the galley, so it is in the steerage and aft, on this veritable hell-ship.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But my first night in the hunters’ steerage was also my last.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“Wouldn’t it be better if you went forward, say by the steerage companion-way, until it is over?” I suggested.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The steerage told the same tale as the forecastle.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The sailors slipped forward, setting the side-lights as they went, while the two hunters remained to sleep in the cabin, it not being deemed advisable to open the slide to the steerage companion-way.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

To begin with, at the midday dinner, Wolf Larsen informed the hunters that they were to eat thenceforth in the steerage.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)