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.
-
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)
-
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.
-
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
-
the act or method of delivering aircraft by flying them to their destination
verb
-
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
-
has ferriedperfect
-
am ferryingprogressive
-
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:
Most evacuees were taken back to Surabaya, a six-hour boat ride from where the ferry ran into trouble.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
And will the $500-million proposal to ferry fans by gondola from Union Station to Dodger Stadium remain aloft or crash and burn?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Spanish officials said migrants who enter Ceuta cannot freely travel into the rest of Spain because identity checks remain in place before any ferry or air travel to the mainland.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
In another video Margerison, from Rochdale, recorded a tour of the bridge of the CalMac ferry Loch Seaforth, prompting the firm to suspend the popular visits.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
After taking the ferry across the river to reach the park, Bobby was soon in his element: swimming, and lounging in the hot tubs.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
A feasibility study for Shetland Islands Council proposes replacing ageing ferries with tunnels from Shetland's mainland to Yell and from Yell to Unst, describing them as "economically transformative".
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
Down by her green toes, Melanie Griffith’s Staten Island secretary Tess McGill ferries to Manhattan to type memos for important men.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
Two more tunnels to the islands of Whalsay and Bressay could follow under the plans, which council leaders say would be cheaper than building new ferries and replacing harbours.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
In recent weeks, Ukraine has hit ferries, bridges and highways connecting Crimea and Russian-occupied mainland Ukraine with Russia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
White electric ferries made their way back and forth, shuttling fans over to the west side, where an observation train awaited them, its thirteen white-skirted flat cars outfitted with bleachers.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
They ferried them on stretchers to waiting vehicles and ambulances near the entrance to the mine.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Voting took place across the tiny Mediterranean island nation on Saturday, and ballots were ferried overnight to the Counting Hall in Naxxar, where counting begins on Sunday morning.
From Barron's ● May 31, 2026
Firefighters ferried in personnel, equipment and pallets of supplies by boat amid gusty winds and rough seas as they raced to save sensitive wildlife, including the continent’s rarest species of pine tree.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
The French citizens are among more than 90 tourists to be ferried home from the Dutch vessel on Sunday, which anchored off the Canary Islands before dawn.
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
During the war, he had ferried hundreds of men, and the occasional female spy, across the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
Warships designed for tasks including anti-submarine defences "are not best used for ferrying people around", he explained.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Obviously, clambering up and down the dangerously steep pass, ferrying goods on horseback or by mule or — for a few wacky, experimental months in the mid-1850s, Army camels — wasn’t workable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
More than 20 of its trucks are currently ferrying goods in the Toronto area for Loblaw, Canada’s largest retailer, Gatik said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 8, 2026
Luiz, a French cab driver ferrying festivalgoers around Cannes, does good impersonations of both a Long Island accent and a Southern drawl, said he loves talking with Americans.
From Salon ● May 22, 2026
So the whales pushed off and started ferrying the humans to shore.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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.
