steerage

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steer·age

(stîr′ĭj)

1. The act or practice of steering.

2. Nautical

a. The effect of the helm on a ship.

b. The steering apparatus of a ship.

c. The section of a passenger ship, originally near the rudder, providing the cheapest passenger accommodations.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

steerage

(ˈstɪərɪdʒ)

1. (Nautical Terms) the cheapest accommodation on a passenger ship, originally the compartments containing the steering apparatus

2. (Nautical Terms) an instance or the practice of steering and the effect of this on a vessel or vehicle

3. (Automotive Engineering) an instance or the practice of steering and the effect of this on a vessel or vehicle

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

steer•age

(ˈstɪər ɪdʒ)

n.

1. (in a passenger ship) the accommodations for travelers who pay the cheapest fare, usu. providing minimal comfort and convenience.

a. the act or action of steering.

b. management; direction.

[1400–50]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	steerage - the cheapest accommodations on a passenger ship accommodation - living quarters provided for public convenience; "overnight accommodations are available"
	2.	steerage - the act of steering a ship steering sailing, seafaring, navigation - the work of a sailor control - the activity of managing or exerting control over something; "the control of the mob by the police was admirable"

Translations

steerage

[ˈstɪərɪdʒ] N (Naut) → entrepuente m
to go steerage → viajar en tercera clase

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

steerage

n → Zwischendeck nt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

Remained the steerage, just for'ard of the cabin, separated from it by a stout bulkhead and entered by a companionway on the main deck.

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One of the hunters, a tall, loose-jointed chap named Henderson, was going aft at the time from the steerage (the name the hunters facetiously gave their midships sleeping quarters) to the cabin.

I had been swept against the galley and around the steerage companion-way from the weather side into the lee scuppers.

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The mate then spoke to me, and, not giving me time to thank the boatswain for his kindness, confirmed what the boatswain had said, and added that it was the captain's delight to show himself kind and charitable, especially to those that were under any misfortunes, and with that he showed me several cabins built up, some in the great cabin, and some partitioned off, out of the steerage, but opening into the great cabin on purpose for the accommodation of passengers, and gave me leave to choose where I would.

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And yet the fact remains that, had the wind failed and the fleet lost steerage way, or, worse still, had it been taken aback from the eastward, with its leaders within short range of the enemy's guns, nothing, it seems, could have saved the headmost ships from capture or destruction.

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When she went to her foul steerage bunk at last, between the clashing engines, it was not to sleep, but only to wait for the morning, and, waiting, grieve.

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I found the dear old Lady Jermyn on the very eve of sailing, with a new captain, a new crew, a handful of passengers (chiefly steerage), and nominally no cargo at all.

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We carried in the steerage nearly a hundred passengers: a little world of poverty: and as we came to know individuals among them by sight, from looking down upon the deck where they took the air in the daytime, and cooked their food, and very often ate it too, we became curious to know their histories, and with what expectations they had gone out to America, and on what errands they were going home, and what their circumstances were.

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The steerage stewardess was indignant with him, the doctor regarded him with suspicion.

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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.

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When I state that I had passed coal on a steamship from Behring Sea to British Columbia, and travelled in the steerage from there to San Francisco, it will be understood that I brought nothing back from the Klondike but my scurvy.