Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HATCH, or HATCH'ES, n. [Sax. hæca; D. hek, a railing, gate, &c. See Hedge and Hatch, supra.]

1. Properly, the grate or frame of cross-bars laid over the opening in a ship's deck, now called hatch-bars. The lid or cover of a hatchway is also called hatches.
2. The opening in a ship's deck, or the passage from one deck to another, the name of the grate itself being used for the opening; but this is more properly called the hatchway. Mar. Dict.
3. A half-door, or door with an opening over it. Qu. Johnson. Shak.
4. Floodgates. Encyc. Ainsworth.
5. In Cornwall, Eng. openings into mines, or in search of them. Encyc.
6. To be under the hatches, to be confined, or to be in distress, depression or slavery. Locke.