Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. 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.
- n. A partition or wall serving a similar purpose in a vehicle, such as an aircraft or spacecraft.
- n. A wall or an embankment, as in a mine or along a waterfront, that acts as a protective barrier.
- n. Chiefly New England A horizontal or sloping structure providing access to a cellar stairway.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A partition. Specifically— A partition in a ship to form separate apartments, or a water-tight partition placed in the hull to prevent the passage of water or fire from one part to another in case of accident; also, a screen, as for protection in a fight.
- n. A water-face of a wharf, pier, or sea-wall.
- n. A horizontal or inclined door giving access from the outside of a house to the cellar.
- n. 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.
Wiktionary
- n. A vertical partition dividing the hull into separate compartments; often made watertight to prevent excessive flooding if the ship's hull is breached.
- n. A similar partition in an aircraft or spacecraft.
- n. Mechanically, a partition or panel through which connectors pass, or a connector designed to pass through a partition.
- n. A pressure-resistant sealed barrier to any fluid in a large structure.
- n. A retaining wall along a waterfront.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A partition in a vessel, to separate apartments on the same deck.
- n. 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.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a partition that divides a ship or plane into compartments
Etymologies
- bulk, stall, partition (perhaps of Scandinavian origin) + head.
Examples
“And the best seats include exit row seats or seats that in what are known as the bulkhead, the first row of seats.”
“You apparently decided the bulkhead was a paper hoop and tried to dive through it," said Paresi.”
“This bulkhead, which is about four feet high, should be raised to a height of about eight feet.”
“On a shelf set in the bulkhead was a chart, a telephone receiver, speaking tubes, dials with red and black hands, an array of electrometers, pressure gauges.”
“Along the bulkhead are the fancy cracker boxes, tempting a man to take one every time he goes below, and under the racks are our kerosene and molasses barrels.”
“At the foremost end of this division of the ship, so far as it was possible for my eyes to pierce the darkness -- for it seems that this run went clear to the fore-hold bulkhead, that is to say, under the powder-room, to where the fore-hold began -- were stowed the spare sails, ropes for gear, and a great variety of furniture for the equipment of a ship's yards and masts.”
“The space between the two ports was occupied by a rack, on which were arranged with much taste, a number of richly-embossed arms, pistols, swords, and daggers -- and against the bulkhead was another stand, filled with muskets and cutlasses, brightly polished.”
“But "bulkhead" seats in the first row of the coach cabin won't be as roomy as frequent fliers are accustomed to.”
The Wall Street Journal: Airlines Are at It Again: Less Legroom
“Going outside, I found the servant had neglected to open the 'bulkhead' door, as usual, and my wise little biddy had concluded to go down-cellar through the kitchen.”
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 5, May, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy
“He turned that way, struck another match, and discovered the white face of the other instrument looking at him from the bulkhead, meaningly, not to be gainsaid, as though the wisdom of men were made unerring by the indifference of matter.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bulkhead’.
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• The bonhomous lynchpin - And other words from...
plinth, starboard, bonhomie, bulkhead, brethren, gabardine, anon, lynchpin, vine, yoke, sequin, marigold and 12 more...
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ill-suited words
Words that don't seem to fit their definitions.
jejune, palimpsest, refulgent, splenetic, pulchritude, bulkhead
Prolagus
(Rox in the box, by The Decemberists) Jan 19, 2011