Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GANG'WAY, n.

A passage, way or avenue into or out of any inclosed place, especially a passage into or out of a ship, or from one part of a ship to another; also a narrow platform of planks laid horizontally along the upper part of a ship's side, from the quarter deck to the forecastle. To bring to the gangway, in the discipline of ships, is to punish a seaman by seizing him up and flogging him.