wharf
Americannoun
-
wharves,
plural
-
wharfs
plural
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.
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to accommodate at or bring to a wharf.
The new structure will wharf several vessels.
verb (used without object)
noun
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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
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the working area of a dock
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an obsolete word for shore 1
verb
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to moor or dock at a wharf
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to provide or equip with a wharf or wharves
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to store or unload on a wharf
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of wharf
before 1050; Middle English (noun); Old English hwearf embankment; cognate with Middle Low German warf; akin to German Werf pier
Explanation
A wharf is a platform built on the shore that extends over the surface of the water. On the wharf, you saw people preparing to set sail. A wharf provides access for ships and boats, that can pull up and dock alongside it. In fact, wharfs are also called docks or piers. Wharfs are made of wood and act like sidewalks, making it easy to people, cargo and supplies to enter and leave a boat. As a verb, wharf means "to moor," or tie the boat to the wharf and drop an anchor, or "to be given a place at the wharf."
Vocabulary lists containing wharf
Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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100 SAT words Beginning with W,X,Y, and Z
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"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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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:
In “Green Gets It,” a man nearing 70 falls off a party yacht and flounders to the wharf.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
Potential adversaries will have to consider that any shipping container at an Australian wharf could have a Ghost Shark in it, he said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026
The Minerva Gloria is docked at a wharf in the Mississippi Sound, not far from the US's vast oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
The crew blow-torched the fasteners and released the cables that held the crane to the ship, while workers on land laid temporary rails across the wharf.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 28, 2025
After we made it to the other side, we saw that there were rebels on guard in a little tower at the wharf that overlooked the clearing.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
It lurks in the halls of famed institutions and the parking lots of dreary, run-down wharfs.
From Salon ● Dec. 5, 2025
Boats can dock at wharfs, quays and piers protected by the reef's natural lagoon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025
A major fire is still raging at the site and pictures show huge, billowing black clouds over the wharfs.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2025
The system of floaters attaches directly to preexisting structures — like breakwaters, wharfs and jetties — and produces energy from the constant motion of the waves.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2024
Docked at the North End waterfront, it was a fireboat, ready to spray tons of ocean water on the many fires that often took place on the wharfs that extended out into the harbor.
From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler
The port, with the help of federal and provincial funds, is spending 609 million Canadian dollars dredging the river and building new wharves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2025
Many of California’s wharves and piers are now centenarians.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 28, 2024
A neighborhood near the wharves is still known as the Irish Channel.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2024
“The waves came up under the wharves, picked them up and dropped them somewhere else,” Ms. Coombs said.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
At the wharves, she could watch trade ships from faraway ports unload spices, sugar, coffee, silk.
From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman
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