ferry
UK/ˈfɛɹi/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/ˈfeɹi/
ferry verb: to carry; transport; convey.
Verb
ferry (third-person singular simple present ferries, present participle ferrying, simple past and past participle ferried)
- 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...2007, Rick Bass, The Lives of Rocks
- 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...2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly)
- 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.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
Noun
ferry (plural ferries)
- 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.
- Synonyms:
- ferryboat
- A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
- It can pass the ferry backward into light.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC
- to row us o'er the ferry1809, Thomas Campbell, Lord Ullin's Daughter
- 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...1831 [1829 October 9], J.J. Marshall, Reporter of the Decisions of the Court of Appeals, quoting Judge Robertson, “Trustees of Maysville vs. Boon, &c. Appeal from Mason County Court”, in Reports of...
Proper noun capitalized: Ferry
Ferry (countable and uncountable, plural Ferrys)
- 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.
ferry meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
ferry in Hindi
- boat
- फ़ेरी ferī, यात्री-नौका yātrī-naukā, जलयान jalyān
ferry in Tamil
- வலசை
ferry in Marathi
- a ferry
- तर tar
ferry in Urdu
- boat
- فیری ferī
More languagesFewer languages
- ferry in Bengali
- খেয়া kheẏa
- ferry in Malayalam
- കടത്ത് kaṭattŭ
- ferry in Kannada
- ಕಡ, ಹಾಯ್ಕಡ, ಓಡ, ಅಂಬಿ
- ferry in Sanskrit
- तरस् táras, घट्ट ghaṭṭa
- ferry in Tagalog
- tabaw, badeyo, bangkang pantawid, ferry
- ferry in Arabic
- مُعَدِّيَة muʕaddiya, عَبَّارَة ʕabbāra
- ferry in Malay
- feri
- ferry in Indonesian
- feri
- ferry in Thai
- เรือข้ามฟาก rʉʉa-kâam-fâak, เรือจ้าง rʉʉa-jâang, เฟอร์รี fəə-rîi
- ferry in Vietnamese
- phà
- ferry in Myanmar
- ကူးတို့ ku:tui., ကူးတို့ဆိပ် ku:tui.hcip
Examples of ferry in a sentence
- To reach Mui Wo, a small town on Lantau Island, you take a ferry from central Hong Kong, and after a 30-minute ride arrive at a small square with a car park and bus stops blackened by fumes.2019 November 22, Ilaria Maria Sala, “After the Protests: How Will Hong Kong Vote?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the...
- She walked into the waiting-room of the ferry, and up the stairs, and by a marvellous swift, little run, caught the ferry-boat that was just going out.c. 1900, O. Henry, The Ferry of Unfulfilment:
Synonyms of ferry
Forms of ferry
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | ferries |
| present participle | ferrying |
| past participle | ferried |
| past | ferried |
| Noun | |
| plural | ferries |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Ferrys |
| alternative form | Farry |
Origin of ferry
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.
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”).
Words formed from ferry
- Austins Ferry
- Bonners Ferry
- Briton Ferry
- Broughty Ferry
- cable ferry
- car ferry
- chain ferry
- Connel Ferry
- cruiseferry
- Dingmans Ferry
- Dobbs Ferry
- Dodges Ferry
- ferriable
- ferriage
- ferryboat
- ferry bridge
- ferry car
- ferryhouse
- ferryman
- ferry railway
- ferry van
- ferry wagon
- ferrywoman
- Fiddler's Ferry
- Gales Ferry
- Grove Ferry
- Hacks Ferry
- Harpers Ferry
- horse ferry
- King Ferry
- Little Ferry
- Meikle Ferry
- Menzies Ferry
- Owston Ferry
- Queensferry
- rhino ferry
- Rock Ferry
- Stoke Ferry
- superferry
- train ferry
- West Ferry
- Wisemans Ferry
- Ferry County
- unferried
Phrases with ferry
Words that rhyme with ferry
Questions about ferry
- What does ferry mean?
- Ferry means to carry; transport; convey.
- What is ferry in Hindi?
- Ferry in Hindi is फ़ेरी (ferī), यात्री-नौका (yātrī-naukā), जलयान (jalyān). See Ferry meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ferry in a sentence?
- To reach Mui Wo, a small town on Lantau Island, you take a ferry from central Hong Kong, and after a 30-minute ride arrive at a small square with a car park and bus stops blackened by fumes.
- What part of speech is ferry?
- Ferry can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce ferry?
- Ferry is pronounced /ˈfɛɹi/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of ferry?
- The past tense of ferry is ferried.
Words near ferry in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ferry (page history and authors); Ferry (page history and authors); ferry (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); तर (Marathi) (page history and authors); খেয়া (Bengali) (page history and authors); ferry (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); घट्ट (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-ferry.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ferry.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ferry. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.