Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Accommodation \Ac*com`mo*da"tion\, n. [L. accommodatio, fr.
   accommodare: cf. F. accommodation.]
   1. The act of fitting or adapting, or the state of being
      fitted or adapted; adaptation; adjustment; -- followed by
      to. ``The organization of the body with accommodation to
      its functions.'' --Sir M. Hale.

   2. Willingness to accommodate; obligingness.

   3. Whatever supplies a want or affords ease, refreshment, or
      convenience; anything furnished which is desired or
      needful; -- often in the plural; as, the accommodations --
      that is, lodgings and food -- at an inn.    --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   4. An adjustment of differences; state of agreement;
      reconciliation; settlement. ``To come to terms of
      accommodation.'' --Macaulay.

   5. The application of a writer's language, on the ground of
      analogy, to something not originally referred to or
      intended.

            Many of those quotations from the Old Testament were
            probably intended as nothing more than
            accommodations.                       --Paley.

   6. (Com.)
      (a) A loan of money.
      (b) An accommodation bill or note.

   {Accommodation bill}, or {note} (Com.), a bill of exchange
      which a person accepts, or a note which a person makes and
      delivers to another, not upon a consideration received,
      but for the purpose of raising money on credit.

   {Accommodation coach}, or {train}, one running at moderate
      speed and stopping at all or nearly all stations.

   {Accommodation ladder} (Naut.), a light ladder hung over the
      side of a ship at the gangway, useful in ascending from,
      or descending to, small boats.

Source : WordNet®

accommodation ladder
     n : (nautical) a portable ladder hung over the side of a vessel
         to give access to small boats alongside