ferry

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“
Owned and operated by the state's transportation department, the ferry is the only way motorists can cross the waterway between Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island.

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. transitive verb Nautical To transport (people, vehicles, or goods) by boat across a body of water.
  2. transitive verb Nautical To cross (a body of water) by a ferry.
  3. transitive verb To deliver (a vehicle, especially an aircraft) under its own power to its eventual user.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • It seem like all the ferry was aglow and I hear a great shout from on board. —  Asimov's SF, October-November2006
  • It was true that the road to the ferry was a busy one by day and well-lighted by night, but it was also true that after the places of entertainment closed down and the pubs and hotel bars emptied, there was very little traffic either going or coming. —  Lovers, Make Moan - Gladys Mitchell-Bradley 60
  • The ferry's steam whistle blew twice, announcing that the ferry was about to dock. —  Kate Douglas, Lacy Danes, Morgan Hawke - Sexy Beast III
  • The payment comes after the ferry was attached last Monday and represents only part of the island's debt to Farocean Marine. —  IOL: News
  • Directly to the west of Algiers Point, where the ferry from the French Quarter unloads, is a largely Black neighborhood of single-story double shotgun houses. —  NOLA Indymedia
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This word has been looked up 78 times.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English ferien, from Old English ferian; see per-2 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English ferien, carry, convey, convey in a boat, from Anglo-Saxon ferian, carry, convey, especially convey in a boat, = Old High German ferian, Middle High German vern = Icelandic ferja = Danish færge = Swedish färja, convey in a boat, ferry, = Goth, farjan, go by boat, row; orig. causative of Anglo-Saxon faran (= Goth, faran, etc.), go: see fare.
  2. from Middle English fery = Dutch veer = Middle High German ver, vere, German fähre = Icelandic ferja = Danish færge = Swedish färja, a ferry; cf. Old High German ferjo, fero, Middle High German verje, verge, vere, G. ferge, a ferryman, boatman; from the verb.
 

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/ˈfɛri/
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