bulkhead

/ˈbʌlkhɛd/

/ˈbʌlkhɛd/

Other forms: bulkheads

The divider or wall between sections of a plane or large ship is called a bulkhead. When you're seated in first class on a jet, there's a bulkhead between you and the pilot's cabin.

The bulkhead you're most likely to see is in a commercial airliner, dividing the flight crew from the passengers and sometimes the first class flyers from those in coach. Other vehicles have them too, including submarines and ships — these bulkheads help strengthen the vessels and keep different areas watertight. The Old Norse root of bulkhead is bálkr, "partition."

Definitions of bulkhead

1. noun

   a partition that divides a ship or plane into compartments
   type of:

   divider, partition

   a vertical structure that divides or separates (as a wall divides one room from another)