wharf
noun
- structure on the shore of a harbor or on the bank of a river or canal where ships dock
verb
- shore up a river bank
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈwɔːf/ / /ˈwɔɹf/ / /ˈʍɔɹf/
noun
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną Proto-West Germanic *hwerban Old English hweorfan Middle English wharf English wharf From Middle English wharf, from Old English hwearf (“heap, embankment, wharf”); related to Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), Old Saxon hwerf (whence German Werft and Warft), Dutch werf, Old High German hwarb (“a turn”), hwerban (“to turn”), Old Norse hvarf (“circle”), and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).
- An artificial landing place for ships on a riverbank or shore.
“Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea.”
“Out upon the wharfs they came, / Knight and burgher, lord and dame, / And round the prow they read her name, / The Lady of Shalott.”
- Any bank of a river or shore of a sea.
“the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf”
verb
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną Proto-West Germanic *hwerban Old English hweorfan Middle English wharf English wharf From Middle English wharf, from Old English hwearf (“heap, embankment, wharf”); related to Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), Old Saxon hwerf (whence German Werft and Warft), Dutch werf, Old High German hwarb (“a turn”), hwerban (“to turn”), Old Norse hvarf (“circle”), and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).
- To secure by a wharf.
- To place on a wharf.