Definition of "hatchway" []

• A passage or an opening leading to a hold, compartment, or cellar. (noun)
• A ladder or stairway within a hatchway. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• ""See if the hatchway is down, and show her where to put her clothes.""
• "Near the center of the kiva two short timbers are laid across the two main beams about 5 feet apart; this is done to preserve a space of 5 by 7 feet for the hatchway, which is made with walls of stone laid in mud plaster, resting upon the two central beams and upon the two side pieces."
• "To drop through the hatchway was the work of an instant, when I at once saw what was the matter."