accommodation ladder
    n 1: (nautical) a portable ladder hung over the side of a vessel
         to give access to small boats alongside

Accommodation \Ac*com`mo*da"tion\, n. [L. accommodatio, fr.
   accommodare: cf. F. accommodation.]
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   1. The act of fitting or adapting, or the state of being
      fitted or adapted; adaptation; adjustment; -- followed by
      to. "The organization of the body with accommodation to
      its functions." --Sir M. Hale.
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   2. Willingness to accommodate; obligingness.
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   3. Whatever supplies a want or affords ease, refreshment, or
      convenience; anything furnished which is desired or
      needful; -- often in the plural; as, the accommodations --
      that is, lodgings and food -- at an inn.    --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
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   4. An adjustment of differences; state of agreement;
      reconciliation; settlement. "To come to terms of
      accommodation." --Macaulay.
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   5. The application of a writer's language, on the ground of
      analogy, to something not originally referred to or
      intended.
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            Many of those quotations from the Old Testament were
            probably intended as nothing more than
            accommodations.                       --Paley.
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   6. (Com.)
      (a) A loan of money.
      (b) An accommodation bill or note.
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   Accommodation bill, or note (Com.), a bill of exchange
      which a person accepts, or a note which a person makes and
      delivers to another, not upon a consideration received,
      but for the purpose of raising money on credit.

   Accommodation coach, or train, one running at moderate
      speed and stopping at all or nearly all stations.

   Accommodation ladder (Naut.), a light ladder hung over the
      side of a ship at the gangway, useful in ascending from,
      or descending to, small boats.
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