upperworks

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the structures and equipment above the hull or main deck of a ship, or above the main body of a vehicle or machine

   Only the ship's masts and upperworks remained visible above the fog.

2. 2
   noun

   informal and humorous: a person's head or brain

   The low beam gave him a painful knock on the upperworks.

A plural compound of upper + works. In engineering and nautical use, works denotes a connected set of structures or mechanisms, so upperworks names those above the main body. The humorous anatomical sense compares the head with a machine's upper structure.

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