a wind-storm of great force and violence, originally as experienced in the West Indies; it is now used to describe similar storms in other regions, except in the East Indies and the Chinese seas, where they are generally known as "typhoons." Hurricane is the strongest force of wind in the Beaufort scale. The Caribbean word huracan was introduced by the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch explorers of the 15th and 16th centuries into many European languages, as in Span. huracan, Portu. furacao, Ital. uracane, Fr. ouragan, and in Swed., Ger. and Dutch as orkan, or orkaan. A "hurricane-deck" is an upper deck on a steamer which protects the lower one, and incidentally serves as a promenade.