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third deck

third deck

1 5.7
A lower floor below the ship's main level where sailors sleep or store cargo
  • noun
translation icon : tercera cubierta
  • During the storm, water began to leak into the third deck through a cracked window.

Examples

  • The crew gathered on the third deck to discuss the ship's navigation plans.

  • We have to make it to the third deck...

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Repair says third deck is flooding port side.

  • He opened the hatch, went down the next ladder, finally made it to the third deck—his deck, the deck he owned—and now he had begun to get used to the pitch, the weird purchase his shoes made on the floor at this angle.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • Passengers were directed to the third deck for emergency evacuation procedures.

Synonyms

lower deck
vsthird deck
  • Specialized
6 3.8

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

is the specific ship level directly beneath the main level
underdeck
vsthird deck
  • Specialized
1 5.6

A space below the ship's main deck for people or goods

is a defined level rather than a general space beneath the main level

Surface Forms

third deck singular
third decks plural

Morphology

third + deck

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'third' (ordinal number three) with 'deck' (a ship platform): it simply denotes the deck in the third position. This ordinal+noun composition is a regular, cross‑linguistic pattern with no idiomatic shift, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the meaning.

Etymology

Third deck comes from old ships with many levels. The phrase names the third deck down, a lower level where sailors slept or cargo was kept, so it means 'the deck located below the main deck'.