wherry
Americannoun
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a light rowboat for one person; skiff.
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any of various barges, fishing vessels, etc., used locally in England.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
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any of certain kinds of half-decked commercial boats, such as barges, used in Britain
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a light rowing boat used in inland waters and harbours
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of wherry
1400–50; late Middle English whery < ?
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:
The Canaries’ next play Brighton and Watford and improved performances and results will be needed if this Norfolk project isn’t to take on the appearance of a wherry holed beneath the waterline.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 28, 2019
On the street that skirts the harbor I saw a fisherman just landed enter his cottage, "paying out," as he went, from a coil of rope, one end being, I ascertained, fastened to his wherry.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Drake, Samuel Adams
I rowed over to Smutty Nose in a wherry.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Drake, Samuel Adams
A small open vessel, or water craft, usually moved by cars or paddles, but often by a sail. µ Different kinds of boats have different names; as, canoe, yawl, wherry, pinnace, punt, etc.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah
Overcome by emotion, Viviana sank into his arms, and in another moment she was placed in a wherry, which was ordered to be rowed towards Westminster.
From Guy Fawkes or The Gunpowder Treason by Ainsworth, William Harrison
Before lorries became the preferred mode of transportation, wherries - large sailing boats used in the Broads - would have transported goods to and from the factory.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Through black smoke and swirling green fire, Davos glimpsed a swarm of small, boats bearing downriver: a confusion of ferries and wherries, barges, skiffs, rowboats, and hulks that looked too rotten to float.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
The wherries are sailed remarkably well, and you can generally rely p. 96on their carefulness, so that you may sail your yacht rigidly according to the rule of the road.
From The Handbook to the Rivers and Broads of Norfolk & Suffolk by Davies, G. Christopher
Its build was outlandish; so unlike the wherries that were by, yet so like the craft that swim in the turbid Yang Tse.
From Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast by Drake, Samuel Adams
Fifty barges, filled with the various companies, followed, marshalled and kept in order by three light wherries with officers.
From Old and New London Volume I by Thornbury, Walter
"My darling child," said she, hugging and kissing her just as tenderly as if she had never been "wherrying."
From Dotty Dimple At Home by May, Sophie
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.
