Also 7 bulkeshead. [App. f. BULK sb.2 (or its etymon) + HEAD; 1 and 2 may however be f. BULK sb.1 in some sense.]
1. One of the upright partitions serving to form the cabins in a ship or to divide the hold into distinct water-tight compartments, for safety in case of collision or other damage. Collision bulkhead: the foremost bulkhead in a vessel.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 11. A quarter decke, the bulke, the bulkeshead.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 120. The Hull … shall be subdivided by other Decks and Bulk-heads.
1805. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., VI. 354. Ever since we have been prepared for Battle: not a Bulk-head up in the Fleet.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 25 Aug., 8/2. She had a collision bulkhead and a bulkhead fore and aft.
b. transf.
1880. Huxley, Cray-Fish, iv. 157. The curious pillars and bulkheads which enter into the composition of the Endophragmal system.
2. Mining. (See quot.)
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Bulkhead, 1. A tight partition or stopping in a mine for protection against water, fire, gas. 2. The end of a flume, whence water is carried in iron pipes to hydraulic workings.
3. The roof of a bulk or projecting stall; also the stall itself. Cf. BULK sb.2
1722. De Foe, Col. Jack (1840), 59. Resting his hand … upon the bulkhead of a ship.
1823. Scott, Peveril, III. xii. 213. Suddenly placing him on the bulk-head, that is to say, the flat wooden roof of the cutler’s projecting booth.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xx. A small bulk-head beneath the taproom window, in size and shape not unlike a sedan-chair, being underlet to a mender of shoes.
1865. Thoreau, Cape Cod, v. 73. An old woman came out and fastened the door of her bulkhead.
Hence Bulkheaded ppl. a., furnished with bulkheads; partitioned off by bulkheads.
1814. Ann. Reg., 79/2. The vessel was bulk-headed up fore and aft.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., II. 311. A single apartment was bulkheaded off amidships as a dormitory.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Oct., 2/1. The armed and bulkheaded merchant steamer giving a good account of the French man-of-war … is an enticing picture, and has been much petted and cackled about in some quarters.
