Meaning
In Chicago usage, a gangway is the narrow pedestrian passage between houses, two-flats, apartment buildings, or similar structures that connects the front of a property with the backyard or alley.
How it is used
The Chicago Sun-Times defines local gangways as often-narrow walkways between two-flats and other apartment buildings. Merriam-Webster gives the broader English meaning 'passageway,' showing that Chicago did not invent the word; the regional feature is the especially familiar application to the narrow side passage between urban residential buildings.
Examples
- “Take the gangway around back to the yard.”
- “The two buildings are separated by a narrow gangway.”
Pronunciation
/ˈɡæŋˌweɪ/ · GANG-way
Tone and register
Neutral and practical. The word can carry neighborhood or older-housing associations but should not be sensationalized as inherently unsafe or crime-related.
Visitor guidance
Interpret gangway from context because standard English also uses the word for ship access, passages and other walkways. In Chicago housing conversation, the narrow side passage is often the intended sense.
Cultural context
Gangways reflect Chicago's dense lot patterns and housing forms such as two-flats and bungalows. The term is a good example of an old general English word acquiring unusually strong local everyday specialization rather than being a piece of invented slang.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.