Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GAL'LEY, n. [plur. Galleys. Sp. galera; It. galera or galea; Fr. galère; Port. galé; L. galea. The Latin word signifies a helmet, the top of a mast, and a galley; and the name of this vessel seems to have been derived from the head-piece, or kind of basket-work, at mast-head.]

1. A low flat-built vessel, with one deck, and navigated with sails and oars; used in the Mediterranean. The largest sort of galleys, employed by the Venetians, are 162 feet in length, or 133 feet keel. They have three masts and thirty-two banks of oars; each bank containing two oars, and each oar managed by six or seven slaves. In the fore-part they carry three small batteries of cannon. – Encyc. Mar. Dict.
2. A place of toil and misery. – South.
3. An open boat used on the Thames by custom-house officers, press-gangs, and for pleasure. – Mar. Dict.
4. The cook-room or kitchen of a ship of war; answering to the caboose of a merchantman. – Mar. Dict.
5. An oblong reverberatory furnace, with a row of retorts whose necks protrude through lateral openings. – Nicholson.