gun deck

1 9.2

A lower deck on a warship with cannons along its length

noun
/ɡʌn dɛk/

Archaic

: cubierta de cañón

What a marvelous strategy, pretending you couldn't untie a knot... while Sedgewick crept down to the gun deck.

Examples

During the storm, the crew took shelter below on the gun deck to stay safe.
With little fresh air and so many men living down here, the smells of the lower gun deck could be notoriously challenging.
With little fresh air and so many men living down here, the smells of the lower gun deck could be notoriously challenging.
The soldiers prepared the cannons on the gun deck for the upcoming battle.
The old warship's gun deck was filled with historical artifacts from previous naval battles.

Synonyms

lower deck

vsgun deck

Specialized

6 3.8

The part of a ship below the main floor where crew sleep or store things

is used historically for cannons rather than for crew or storage

third deck

vsgun deck

1 5.7

A lower floor below the ship's main level where sailors sleep or store cargo

is historically fitted mainly with cannons along its length

Surface Forms

gun deck singular

gun decks plural

Morphology

gun + deck

The meaning 'a deck fitted with guns/cannons' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'gun' (weapon) with 'deck' (ship platform), so a learner who knows both words can infer the phrase. This noun-noun compounding pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, making the expression immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

The noun gun deck comes from old warships where a lower deck was lined with heavy guns. The picture of a deck full of cannons is why it means 'a deck fitted with cannons'.