WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Steer"age
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : 1. The act or practice of steering, or directing; as, the steerage of a ship. He left the city, and, in a most tempestuous season, forsook the helm and steerage of the common wealth. Milton.

2. (Naut.) (a) The effect of the helm on a ship; the manner in which an individual ship is affected by the helm. (b) The hinder part of a vessel; the stern. [R.] Swift. (c) Properly, the space in the after part of a vessel, under the cabin, but used generally to indicate any part of a vessel having the poorest accommodations and occupied by passengers paying the lowest rate of fare.

3. Direction; regulation; management; guidance. He that hath the steerage of my course. Shak.

4. That by which a course is directed. [R.] Here he hung on high, The steerage of his wings. Dryden. Steerage passenger, a passenger who takes passage in the steerage of a vessel.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913