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Webster 1913 Edition

Steerage

Steer′age

(stēr′ā̍j ; 48)
,
Noun.
1.
The act or practice of steering, or directing;
as, the
steerage
of a ship
.
He left the city, and, in a most tempestuous season, forsook the helm and
steerage
of the commonwealth.
Milton.
2.
(Naut.)
(a)
The effect of the helm on a ship; the manner in which an individual ship is affected by the helm.
(b)
The hinder part of a vessel; the stern.
[R.]
Swift.
(c)
Properly, the space in the after part of a vessel, under the cabin, but used generally to indicate any part of a vessel having the poorest accommodations and occupied by passengers paying the lowest rate of fare.
3.
Direction; regulation; management; guidance.
He that hath the
steerage
of my course.
Shakespeare
4.
That by which a course is directed.
[R.]
Here he hung on high,
The
steerage
of his wings.
Dryden.
Steerage passenger
,
a passenger who takes passage in the steerage of a vessel.

Webster 1828 Edition

Steerage

STEERAGE

,
Noun.
1.
The act or practice of directing and governing in a course; as the steerage of a ship.
[In this sense, I believe the word is now little used.]
2.
In seamens language, the effort of a helm, or its effect on the ship.
3.
In a ship, an apartment forward of the great cabin, from which it is separated by a bulk-head or partition, or an apartment in the fore part of a ship for passengers. In ships of war it serves as a hall or antichamber to the great cabin.
4.
The part of a ship where the tiller traverses.
5.
Direction; regulation.
He that hath the steerage of my course. [Little used.]
6.
Regulation or management.
You raise the honor of the peerage, proud to attend you at the steerage.
7.
That by which a course is directed.
Here he hung on high the steerage of his wings---
[Steerage, in the general sense of direction or management, is in popular use, but by no means an elegant word. It is said, a young man when he sets out in life, makes bad steerage; but no good writer would introduce the word into elegant writing.]

Definition 2024

steerage

steerage

English

Noun

steerage ‎(countable and uncountable, plural steerages)

  1. (uncountable) The art of steering.
  2. (countable) The section of a passenger ship that provided inexpensive accommodation with no individual cabins.
    • 1896, Henry Lawson, For`ard
      It is stuffy in the steerage where the second-classers sleep,
      For there's near a hundred for'ard, and they're stowed away like sheep
    • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 1, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
      “I have visited my quarters, and find them very comfortable. […] Steerage is like everything else maritime […] vastly improved since Robert Louis Stevenson took his trip third class to New York.”
  3. (countable) The effect of the helm on a ship.

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