steerageway
UK/ˈstɪə.ɹɪd͡ʒˌweɪ//ˈstiɹɪd͡ʒˌweɪ/
steerageway noun: the minimum speed of a ship, below which it does not answer the helm and cannot be steered.
Noun
steerageway (countable and uncountable, plural steerageways)
- The minimum speed of a ship, below which it does not answer the helm and cannot be steered.
- The latter made one tremendous spurt, then gave up in despair and hauled in his oars. French Pete let go the main-sheet, lost steerageway as he rounded up alongside the motionless skiff, and dragged Joe out.1902, Jack London, “chapter XII”, in The Cruise of the Dazzler
Forms of steerageway
| plural | steerageways |
|---|---|
| alternative form | steerage way |
| alternative form | steerage-way |
Origin of steerageway
From steerage + way.
Questions about steerageway
- What does steerageway mean?
- Steerageway means the minimum speed of a ship, below which it does not answer the helm and cannot be steered.
- What part of speech is steerageway?
- Steerageway is a noun.
- How do you pronounce steerageway?
- Steerageway is pronounced /ˈstɪə.ɹɪd͡ʒˌweɪ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of steerageway?
- The plural of steerageway is steerageways.
Words near steerageway in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: steerageway (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-steerageway.ogg.
Cite this entry: “steerageway.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/steerageway. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.