steerageway
- n (nautical) the minimum rate of motion needed for a vessel to be maneuvered
- Despite Harry Truman's hasty efforts at damage control, the Fair Deal had all but lost steerageway, and Truman knew it.
- Up to last week Laborite Morrison, though his Party is wallowing almost without helm or steerageway amid the general election, had miserably failed to qualify as Labor's Captain .