ferry
[fer-ee]
- a commercial service with terminals and boats for transporting persons, automobiles, etc., across a river or other comparatively small body of water.
- a ferryboat.
- a service for flying airplanes over a particular route, especially the delivery of airplanes to an overseas purchaser or base of operations.
- the legal right to ferry passengers, cargo, etc., and to charge for the service.
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- to carry or convey back and forth over a fixed route in a boat or plane.
- to fly (an airplane) over a particular route, especially for delivery.
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- to go in a ferry.
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Origin of ferry
before 1150; Middle English ferien, Old English ferian to carry; cognate with Old Norse ferja, Gothic farjan; akin to fare
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ferries
Contemporary Examples
The ferries run every half-hour to the Russian mainland, but they take only a few dozen cars on each trip.
I don't mean yachts or ferries, but proper working ships: cargo and container and bulk and gas and oil, the ones we no longer see.
But a new service that ferries passengers from Boston to Cape Cod has been a success – without huge government subsidies.
One evening, 29-year-old Mahmoud explained to me that he ferries money, not guns, to the Syrian people.
Are Foreign Jihadists Gaining Influence Inside the Syrian Rebel Forces?Anna Therese Day
October 16, 2012
Historical Examples
Ferries, tugs and steamers seemed to be coming at us from every side.
The HarborErnest Poole
All morning long, ferries, trolleys, trains were jammed with the race-mad throng.
Garrison's FinishW. B. M. Ferguson
The Dhīmar is also regularly employed as a worker on ferries.
He had just come off the "trail," he said, at one of the North River ferries.
The Four MillionO. Henry
He ran one of the ferries across the river to the Virginia shore.
A Portrait of Old George TownGrace Dunlop Ecker
ferry
- Also called: ferryboat a vessel for transporting passengers and usually vehicles across a body of water, esp as a regular service
- such a service
- (in combination)a ferryman
- a legal right to charge for transporting passengers by boat
- the act or method of delivering aircraft by flying them to their destination
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- to transport or go by ferry
- to deliver (an aircraft) by flying it to its destination
- (tr) to convey (passengers, goods, etc)the guests were ferried to the church in taxis
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Word Origin
Old English ferian to carry, bring; related to Old Norse ferja to transport, Gothic farjan; see fare
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for ferries
ferry
n.
early 15c., "a passage over a river," from Old Norse ferju- "passage across water," ultimately from the same Germanic root as ferry (v.). The modern noun (1580s) is a shortening of ferry boat (mid-15c.).
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ferry
v.
Old English ferian "to carry, convey, bring, transport," from Proto-Germanic *farjanan (cf. Old Frisian feria "carry, transport," Old Norse ferja "to pass over, to ferry," Gothic farjan "travel by boat"), from PIE *per- "going, passage." Related to fare (v.). Related: Ferried; ferries; ferrying.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper