Gangway

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A passage or way into or out of any inclosed place; esp., a temporary way of access formed of planks.

2. In the English House of Commons, a narrow aisle across the house, below which sit those who do not vote steadly either with the government or with the opposition.

3. The opening through the bulwarks of a vessel by which persons enter or leave it.

4. That part of the spar deck of a vessel on each side of the booms, from the quarter-deck to the forecastle; -- more properly termed the waist. Totten. Gangway ladder, a ladder rigged on the side of a vessel at the gangway. -- To bring to the gangway, to punish (a seaman) by flogging him at the gangway.