ferry
Americannoun
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ferries
plural
-
a commercial service with terminals and boats for transporting persons, automobiles, etc., across a river or other comparatively small body of water.
-
a ferryboat.
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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.
verb (used with object)
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ferries,
present (3rd person singular)
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ferried,
past participle, past
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ferrying
present participle
-
to carry or convey back and forth over a fixed route in a boat or plane.
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to fly (an airplane) over a particular route, especially for delivery.
verb (used without object)
-
ferries,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ferried,
past participle, past
-
ferrying
present participle
noun
-
Also called: ferryboat. a vessel for transporting passengers and usually vehicles across a body of water, esp as a regular service
-
-
such a service
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( in combination )
a ferryman
-
-
a legal right to charge for transporting passengers by boat
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the act or method of delivering aircraft by flying them to their destination
verb
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to transport or go by ferry
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to deliver (an aircraft) by flying it to its destination
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(tr) to convey (passengers, goods, etc)
the guests were ferried to the church in taxis
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ferrysimple
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ferriessimple
-
have ferriedperfect
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has ferriedperfect
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am ferryingprogressive
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are ferryingprogressive
-
is ferryingprogressive
-
have been ferryingperfect progressive
-
has been ferryingperfect progressive
Past
-
ferriedsimple
-
had ferriedperfect
-
was ferryingprogressive
-
were ferryingprogressive
-
had been ferryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ferry
before 1150; Middle English ferien, Old English ferian to carry; cognate with Old Norse ferja, Gothic farjan; akin to fare
Explanation
A ferry is a boat that carries people, cars, and cargo back and forth across a body of water. The Staten Island Ferry ferries commuters from Manhattan to Staten Island every ten minutes during rush hour. To ferry means to transport by ferry, or to transport in other ferry-like ways, i.e., multiple short trips. If you have an ice-skating birthday party, your dad might ferry a few van loads of kids back to your house afterward, for pizza and cake.
Vocabulary lists containing ferry
Greetings, World Traveler! — List 2
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Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 17–September 23, 2022
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
We couldn’t afford to buy there, so I commuted by ferry for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
Movie people were stranded on Lookout Mountain, and in Malibu, where a highway patrolman managed to ferry milk to director Frank Capra’s children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The ferry was travelling from Surabaya to the south Kalimantan city of Banjarmasin and was last reported to be about 150km south of Banjarmasin around 02:00 local time on Sunday.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The ferry was also carrying goods, an electric vehicle, a pickup truck, and motorcycles.
From Barron's ● Sep. 12, 2026
And then, from the stern of the ferry, I stood and watched him in the stern of the schooner, the distance between us lengthening, and I waved.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
The archipelago nation of 116 million has a long history of disasters involving the inter-island ferries that ply its seas.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
The ferries agency has, however, insisted the shipyard deliver the ships with the gas systems fully commissioned in accordance with the original contract.
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Sophie Jansen, 33, of Amsterdam, travels to Greece over five times a year and has taken close to 100 island ferries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The mainstream tanker market is shrinking as some ships are sold into the so-called shadow fleet that ferries sanctioned oil.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
I stare out at the water, busy with ferries and fishing boats.
From "Al Capone Does My Shirts" by Gennifer Choldenko
Around 2,000 spectators are also expected to be ferried across a short stretch of water to the island which normally has a population of about 60.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Once in Britain, according to the New York Times, Trump was covertly ferried back to Air Force One as though he had been aboard the whole time.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
The container then ferried him to a smaller C-32A aircraft that flew him to Britain, while media and some officials were led to believe Trump was still on the bigger jet.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Fast-spreading flames blackened the sky over the peninsula as tourists scrambled onto boats that ferried them to safety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
For instance, during the War, after the pipelines were blown up, he and his classmates had ferried water up to the girls’ dorm, each leaving his bucket at the door of a particular resident.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Reports about food and conditions on ship don’t grapple with the challenges of ferrying fresh lettuce into a combat zone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
The plane took off from Ankara 20 minutes later, ferrying the president, his entourage, and the journalists who had covered his trip.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
By 1858, the famous Butterfield stagecoaches were ferrying the mail through the cut over the pass, hazarding a vertiginous angle comparable with San Francisco’s Lombard Street, without the switchbacks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The sides of the shuttle buses ferrying Open fans to Royal Birkdale are plastered with a picture of Tommy Fleetwood holding the Claret Jug.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Skiffs were ferrying loads of fresh water out to the Dauntless under Lucky Strike’s supervision.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
