ferry
noun
- type of ship travelling over short to medium distances between two places transporting people, cars or trains and acting like a replacement for a bridge
- a place where persons or things are carried across a body of water (such as a river) in a boat
- a franchise or right to operate a ferry service across a body of water
- an organized service and route for flying airplanes especially across a sea or continent for delivery to the user
verb
- move something back and forth
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈfɛɹi/ / /ˈfeɹi/ / /ˈfɛɾe/
name
Etymology: Two main origins: * A reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Fearadhaigh (“descendant of Fearadhach”), a personal name probably derived from an adjective derivative of fear (“man”). * A metonymic occupational surname for a ferryman or a topographic surname for someone who lived by a ferry crossing, from Middle English feri (“ferry”).
- A surname.
- A census-designated place in Denali Borough, Alaska, United States.
- A township in Oceana County, Michigan, United States, named after Thomas W. Ferry.
- An unincorporated community in Greene County, Ohio, United States.
noun
Etymology: The verb is from Middle English ferien (“to carry, convey”), from Old English ferian, from Proto-West Germanic *farjan, from Proto-Germanic *farjaną, which see for cognates. This verb is the causative of Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go, travel”), whence English fare; ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-. The noun is from Middle English ferie (“place of crossing, ferry”), which was derived from the above verb under influence of Old Norse ferja, from Proto-Germanic *farjǭ, itself also from the verb. False cognate of Latin ferō.
- A boat or ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.
“Near-synonym: ferryboat”
“Islanders normally have to queue for half an hour to get on the ferry.”
- A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
“It can pass the ferry backward into light.”
“to row us o'er the ferry”
- The service constituted by this watercraft's operation; the business (company) that operates such a service.
“In those days there was a ferry at Sleepytown. Modern roads and bridges for motor vehicles have rendered such local river ferries obsolete.”
- The legal right or franchise that entitles a corporate body or an individual to operate such a service: a right of ferry.
“granted a ferry to”
“In 1794, the county court of Mason, granted a ferry to Benjamin Sutton, who owned two lots on the front of water street. In 1801, the same privilege was re-granted to him by the court. In 1797, a ferry was granted to Edmund Martin, by the county court. In 1808, a ferry was granted, by the county court, to Jacob Boon. In 1818, a ferry was granted, by the court, to J. K. Ficklin, and in 1823, another ferry was granted, by the court, to Benjamin Baylies. Bonds with security, were executed by the grantees respectively. The ferrys of Ficklin and Baylies have not been in operation for two or three years past. Those of Sutton, Martin and Boon, have been in operation ever since their establishment. Boon and Martin are both dead. Sutton sold his lots and ferry to Armstrong. Powers and Campbell, who attended to the ferrys granted to Boon and Martin, live in the state of Ohio. Armstrong resides in Maysville.”
verb
Etymology: The verb is from Middle English ferien (“to carry, convey”), from Old English ferian, from Proto-West Germanic *farjan, from Proto-Germanic *farjaną, which see for cognates. This verb is the causative of Proto-Germanic *faraną (“to go, travel”), whence English fare; ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *per-. The noun is from Middle English ferie (“place of crossing, ferry”), which was derived from the above verb under influence of Old Norse ferja, from Proto-Germanic *farjǭ, itself also from the verb. False cognate of Latin ferō.
- To carry; transport; convey.
“Trucks plowed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.”
“We ferried our stock in U-Haul trailers, and across the months, as we purchased more cowflesh from the Goat Man — meat vanishing into the ether again and again, as if into some quarkish void — we became familiar enough with Sloat and his daughter to learn that her name was Flozelle, and to visit with them about matters other than stock.”
- To move someone or something from one place to another, usually repeatedly.
“Being a good waiter takes more than the ability to ferry plates of food around a restaurant.”
“A “moving platform” scheme[…]is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays. […] This would also let high-speed trains skirt cities as moving platforms ferry passengers to and from the city centre.”
- To carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.
- To pass over water in a boat or by ferry.
“They ferry over this Lethean sound / Both to and fro.”