harbour

[ hahr-ber ]

noun, verb (used with or without object)Chiefly British.

usage note For harbour

See -or1.

Words Nearby harbour

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use harbour in a sentence

  • I took the last water taxi running from Eleuthera to harbour Island.

    Our Visit From Irene | India Hicks | August 27, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • Subig is a fine natural harbour, but with precipitous shores just as Nature has made it.

    The Philippine Islands | John Foreman
  • Foreign families of neutral nationality sought more tranquil asylum far beyond the suburbs or on ships lying in the harbour.

    The Philippine Islands | John Foreman
  • The submarine E.14 sailed into harbour after a series of hair-raising adventures in the Sea of Marmora.

  • There is no protection there for the ships against submarines except Enos harbour and Enos is only one fathom deep.

  • On such occasions continual salutes are fired from the imperial ships, and sometimes from others in the harbour.

British Dictionary definitions for harbour

harbour

US harbor

/ (ˈhɑːbə) /


noun
  1. a sheltered port

  2. a place of refuge or safety

verb
  1. (tr) to give shelter to: to harbour a criminal

  2. (tr) to maintain secretly: to harbour a grudge

  1. to shelter (a vessel) in a harbour or (of a vessel) to seek shelter

Origin of harbour

1
Old English herebeorg, from here troop, army + beorg shelter; related to Old High German heriberga hostelry, Old Norse herbergi

Derived forms of harbour

  • harbourer or US harborer, noun
  • harbourless or US harborless, adjective

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