Definitions

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

  • noun A strong shutter or plate fastened over a ship's porthole or cabin window in stormy weather.
  • noun A thick window set in a ship's side or deck.
  • noun A skylight constructed so that it cannot be opened.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Nautical, a strong wooden or iron shutter fastened over a cabin-window or port-hole in rough weather to prevent water from entering.
  • noun A luminous appearance sometimes observed over putrescent animal bodies.

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

  • noun (Naut.) A strong shutter, made to fit open ports and keep out water in a storm.

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

  • noun nautical A strong shutter fitted over a porthole etc. that can be closed in bad weather

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

  • noun a strong shutter over a ship's porthole that is closed in stormy weather

Etymologies

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  • A steel or alloy cover plate fitted internally to portholes for protection against water ingress in case of glass failure.

    August 25, 2009

  • In Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1883), the pirates use "deadlights" to mean "eyes."

    "The same broadside I lost my leg, old Pew lost his deadlights." -- ch. 11

    "I saw him dead with these here deadlights." -- ch. 31

    February 10, 2019