wharf

[hwawrf, wawrf]

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noun, plural wharves [hwawrvz, wawrvz] /ʰwɔrvz, wɔrvz/, wharfs.

a structure built on the shore of or projecting into a harbor, stream, etc., so that vessels may be moored alongside to load or unload or to lie at rest; quay; pier.

Obsolete.

a riverbank.
the shore of the sea.

verb (used with object)

to provide with a wharf or wharves.

to place or store on a wharf: The schedule allowed little time to wharf the cargo.

to accommodate at or bring to a wharf: The new structure will wharf several vessels.

verb (used without object)

to tie up at a wharf; dock: The ship wharfed in the early morning.

Origin of wharf

before 1050; Middle English (noun); Old English hwearf embankment; cognate with Middle Low German warf; akin to German Werf pier

Can be confuseddock harbor pier wharf

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for wharf

dock, berth, pier, jetty, levee, breakwater, quay, slip, landing

Examples from the Web for wharf

Contemporary Examples of wharf

Then bed down in the seaside town of Mystic, Connecticut, with views of the wharf from your private room at the Steamboat Inn.
The U.S. Road Trips You Should Really Take
Lonely Planet
April 26, 2014
Afterward, stumble out into North Beach and walk it off on a stroll down to the Wharf.
The Easygoing Flair of San Francisco
Jolie Hunt
April 10, 2010

Historical Examples of wharf

"Looks as if there were something doing there," said Percival, as they drove off the wharf.
The Spenders
Harry Leon Wilson
We all went ashore in this canoe, then, and were soon alongside of a wharf.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
There was no wharf, and it was always necessary to get ashore through a surf.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
When we got back to Charleston, our ship lay at her own wharf, and I saw nothing of my chap.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
Two of them bore a small chest which they set down on the wharf.
Poisoned Air
Sterner St. Paul Meek

British Dictionary definitions for wharf

wharf

noun plural wharves (wɔːvz) or wharfs

a platform of timber, stone, concrete, etc, built parallel to the waterfront at a harbour or navigable river for the docking, loading, and unloading of ships

the wharves NZ the working area of a dock

an obsolete word for shore 1

verb (tr)

to moor or dock at a wharf

to provide or equip with a wharf or wharves

to store or unload on a wharf

Word Origin for wharf

Old English hwearf heap; related to Old Saxon hwarf, Old High German hwarb a turn, Old Norse hvarf circle

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 wharf

late Old English hwearf "shore, bank where ships can tie up," earlier "dam, embankment," from Proto-Germanic *khwarfaz (cf. Middle Low German werf "mole, dam, wharf," German Werft "shipyard, dockyard"); related to Old English hwearfian "to turn," perhaps in a sense implying "busy activity," from PIE root *kwerp- "to turn, revolve" (cf. Old Norse hverfa "to turn round," German werben "to enlist, solicit, court, woo," Gothic hvairban "to wander," Greek kartos "wrist," Sanskrit surpam "winnowing fan"). Wharf rat "person who hangs around docks" is recorded from 1836.