below decks
1
7.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
en privado
- Shrug for the New World, shrug for the troubles and purchase of five hundred Jews below deck whom he would never see, could never grasp.
Examples
-
"Aye, Ooc, but there wasn't time for me to get below deck, and the spear was right there?"
Fiction book (1992) -
So next time, just get your pretty little self below deck and let the crew handle it, all right?
Fiction book (1992) -
Let me discuss with you later the proper way to deal below deck, do you hear me?
Fiction book (1992) -
Without a word, he left Larissa and went below deck.
Fiction book (1992) -
There was a loud clanging noise and some exclamations of alarm from below deck, but no damage done.
Fiction book (1992) -
You are to return below deck at once, Cristoforo said, the dark lash of anger trailing through his bowels.
Fiction book (1992) -
The crew conversed quietly below decks, away from the watchful eyes of the passengers.
-
They planned their surprise party secretly below decks, ensuring no one would overhear them.
-
The captain instructed the crew to discuss the strategy below decks, where they wouldn't be disturbed.
Synonyms
112
4.1
In private and not open to the public
40
9.9
In secret so other people do not know
33
4.3
Happening in private and away from public view
28
6.0
Most people do not know about it
13
7.5
People keep it secret from most others to avoid being noticed
9
7.5
Done secretly to hide payments and avoid the law
1
8.6
In secret and quietly so nobody finds out
In secret so only a few people know
Kept secret and not told to other people
Antonyms
How Public
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'in the area beneath the main deck of a ship' is a direct, literal combination of 'below' (at a lower position) and 'deck(s)' (the ship's platform), so the locative sense is immediately inferable. This is a straightforward compositional locative phrase found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
Below decks comes from life on ships. If people met below the deck, they were out of sight and away from the public, so the phrase now means 'in private' or 'out of public view'.