Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A pier where ships or boats are tied up and loaded or unloaded.
  • noun Obsolete A shore or riverbank.
  • intransitive verb To moor (a vessel) at a wharf.
  • intransitive verb To take to or store (cargo) on a wharf.
  • intransitive verb To furnish, equip, or protect with wharves or a wharf.
  • intransitive verb To berth at a wharf.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To guard or secure by a wharf or firm wall of timber or stone.
  • To place or lodge on a wharf.
  • noun A platform of timber, stone, or other material built on a support at the margin of a harbor or a navigable stream, in order that vessels may be moored alongside, as for loading or unloading, or while at rest.
  • noun The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To guard or secure by a firm wall of timber or stone constructed like a wharf; to furnish with a wharf or wharfs.
  • transitive verb To place upon a wharf; to bring to a wharf.
  • noun A structure or platform of timber, masonry, iron, earth, or other material, built on the shore of a harbor, river, canal, or the like, and usually extending from the shore to deep water, so that vessels may lie close alongside to receive and discharge cargo, passengers, etc.; a quay; a pier.
  • noun obsolete The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.
  • noun [U. S.] a kind of boat moored at the bank of a river, and used for a wharf, in places where the height of the water is so variable that a fixed wharf would be useless.
  • noun (Zoöl.), [Slang] A neglected boy who lives around the wharfs.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A man-made landing place for ships on a shore or river bank.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb discharge at a wharf
  • verb provide with a wharf
  • verb moor at a wharf
  • verb store on a wharf
  • verb come into or dock at a wharf
  • noun a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hwearf.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Old English hwearf ("heap, embankment, wharf"); related to Old English hweorfan ("to turn"), Old Saxon hwarf, Old High German hwarb ("a turn"), hwerban ("to turn"), Old Norse hvarf ("circle"), Greek καρπός ("wrist").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Long platform built over water/ sentence- boats sailed up to the wharf and the passengers got off. (Newbury House Dictionary)

    September 25, 2010

  • "...Alcide Herveaux looked plenty tough. He was big as a boulder, with biceps that I could do pull-ups on. He would have to shave a second time if he planned on going out in the evening. He would fit right in on a construction site or a wharf." -Club Dead, by Charlaine Harris

    February 5, 2011

  • via <a href="https://twitter.com/debcha/status/718810484225548288">https://twitter.com/debcha/status/718810484225548288</a>

    July 16, 2016