hull-down

• hull down

hull-down (not comparable)

1. (nautical) Of a ship: so far distant that only the masts and sails are visible above the horizon.
   • 1898 September, Joseph Conrad, “Youth: a Narrative”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXIV, number DCCCCXCV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publication Co., page 319, column 2:

     In the morning a homeward-bound ship passed us hull down,—the first we had seen for months; […]

   • 1960, J.E. Macdonnell, Escort Ship, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, published 1972, page 30:

     Shortly they would be hull-down.

2. (military) Of a tank: stopped with its hull protected by ground to the front, so that its occupants or weapons have a line of sight forward.

• (military): in defilade, defiladed

• (nautical): hull-up
• (military): turret-down, turret down