ferry.
To carry; transport; convey.
Meaning & usage
To carry; transport; convey.
Trucks plowed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.
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.
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.
Where this word comes from
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.
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.
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
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.