pilot ladder
- noun
- /ˈpaɪlət ˈlædər/
- Specialized
:
escalera de piloto
- - A pilot ladder at each gangway and a chair sling for bringing up the sick or wounded.
Examples
-
The crew prepared the pilot ladder so the ship's captain could board safely.
-
The cutter's rail was some five feet higher than ours, and two sailors let down a pilot ladder to us.
Fiction book (1995) -
As the small boat approached the vessel, the sailors quickly lowered the pilot ladder into the water.
-
The pilot ladder swung gently in the breeze as the pilot climbed aboard the large freighter.
Synonyms
4
3.4
A ladder made of ropes and wooden steps used when a regular ladder cannot be used
A hanging ladder made of rope or chain with wooden rungs used on ships
A rope or chain with steps used to climb between a ship and small boats
A ladder lowered from a ship to let people climb aboard from the water or a small boat
A ladder that hangs over the side of a ship to help people climb aboard from the water
How Portable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'pilot ladder' is directly compositional: it denotes a ladder associated with a pilot (i.e., used by or for a pilot to board a vessel). A B1 learner who knows 'pilot' and 'ladder' can reasonably infer this basic meaning (even if they may not know the specific maritime technicalities), so the expression is predictable from its parts.
Etymology
Pilot ladder comes from a simple image: a pilot, the person who guides a ship into port, climbs a ladder from a small boat to the big ship. So, it means 'a rope or chain ladder with steps used for boarding a ship from a small boat'.