ferry
To carry; transport; convey.
Verb 4 meanings
To carry; transport; convey.
“Trucks plowed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.”
To move someone or something from one place to another, usually repeatedly.
“Being a good waiter takes more than the ability to ferry plates of food around a restaurant.”
To carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.
To pass over water in a boat or by ferry.
Noun 4 meanings
A boat or ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.
“Near-synonym: ferryboat”
A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
The service constituted by this watercraft's operation; the business (company) that operates such a service.
“In those days there was a ferry at Sleepytown. Modern roads and bridges for motor vehicles have rendered such local river ferries obsolete.”
The legal right or franchise that entitles a corporate body or an individual to operate such a service: a right of ferry.
“granted a ferry to”
Etymology
The verb is from Middle English ferien (“to carry, convey”), from Old English ferian, from Proto-West Germanic *farjan, from Proto-Germanic *farjaną, which see for cognates. This verb is the causative of Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go, travel”), whence English fare; ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-.
Similar and opposite words
FERRY at a glance
FERRY has 5 letters and scores 11 points in Scrabble (F 4 + E 1 + R 1 + R 1 + Y 4) and 10 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #6,796 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with ferry
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