bulk·head

(bŭlk′hĕd′)

a. 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.

b. A partition or wall serving a similar purpose in a vehicle, such as an aircraft or spacecraft.

2. A wall or an embankment, as in a mine or along a waterfront, that acts as a protective barrier.

3. Chiefly New England A horizontal or sloping structure on the outside of a building, providing access to a cellar stairway.

[bulk, stall, partition (perhaps of Scandinavian origin) + head.]

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.

bulkhead

(ˈbʌlkˌhɛd)

1. (Nautical Terms) any upright wall-like partition in a ship, aircraft, vehicle, etc

2. (Civil Engineering) a wall or partition built to hold back earth, fire, water, etc

[C15: probably from bulk projecting framework, from Old Norse bálkr partition + head]

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

bulk•head

(ˈbʌlkˌhɛd)

n.

1. a wall-like construction inside a ship or airplane, as for forming watertight compartments or strengthening the structure.

2. a partition built in a subterranean passage to prevent the passage of air, water, or earth.

3. a retaining structure of timber, steel, or reinforced concrete used for shore protection.

4. a horizontal or inclined outside door over a stairway leading to a cellar.

5. a boxlike structure covering a stairwell or other opening.

[1490–1500]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

bulkhead - a partition that divides a ship or plane into compartments

partition, divider - a vertical structure that divides or separates (as a wall divides one room from another)

ship - a vessel that carries passengers or freight

Translations

حاجِزٌ بَيْنَ جُزءٍ وآخر في السَّفينَه

přepážka

skillevægskot

Schott

laipiolaippa

cloison

választófal

milliòilja, skilrúm

paratia

pertvara

starpsiena

kopschot

skott vegg

priečinok

skott

bölme

船舱壁

bulkhead

[ˈbʌlkhed] N (Naut) → mamparo m

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

bulkhead

[ˈbʌlkhɛd] n → cloison f (étanche)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bulkhead

n → Schott nt; (in tunnel) → Spundwand f

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

bulkhead

[ˈbʌlkˌhɛd] n (Naut) → paratia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

bulkhead

(ˈbalkhed) noun

a division between one part of a ship's interior and another.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Each of our cabins had its own looking-glass screwed to the bulkhead, and what he wanted with more of them we never could fathom.

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The loaded muskets in the rack were shiningly revealed, as they stood upright against the forward bulkhead. Starbuck was an honest, upright man; but out of Starbuck's heart, at that instant when he saw the muskets, there strangely evolved an evil thought; but so blent with its neutral or good accompaniments that for the instant he hardly knew it for itself.

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It was something to see him wedge the foot of the crutch against a bulkhead, and propped against it, yielding to every movement of the ship, get on with his cooking like someone safe ashore.

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'Maybe; but I say, if I lived, I, and I alone, would know that one had come by night, as a common thief perhaps, to Mahbub Ali's bulkhead in the serai, and there had slain him, either before or after that thief had made a full search into his saddlebags and between the soles of his slippers.

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It laid over by the bulkhead, and was nearly the color of the carpet.

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Most of it had gone overboard--stove, men's quarters, and their property, all was gone; but two posts, holding a portion of the bulkhead to which Abraham's bunk was attached, remained as if by a mir- acle.

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Disposed about these muskets, like the cutlasses that decorate the bulkhead of a man-of-war's cabin, were a great variety of rude spears and paddles, javelins, and war-clubs.

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For'ard of this room, separated by a tight bulkhead, was the forecastle where lived the boat's crew.

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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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To steady himself, he pressed his shoulder against the white bulkhead, one knee bent, and a sweat-rag tucked in his belt hanging on his hip.

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Here is a hogshead of molasses or of brandy directed to John Smith, Cuttingsville, Vermont, some trader among the Green Mountains, who imports for the farmers near his clearing, and now perchance stands over his bulkhead and thinks of the last arrivals on the coast, how they may affect the price for him, telling his customers this moment, as he has told them twenty times before this morning, that he expects some by the next train of prime quality.

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The engine, the ballast, the several accessories and apparatus appendages, the partitions and bulkheads, weigh 961.62 tons.

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