wherries

Noun

wherry (countable and uncountable, plural wherries)

1. (countable) A boat or light ship used to navigate inland waterways.
   • O how I should like to see her floating in the water yonder, turban and all, with her train streaming after her, and her nose like the beak of a wherry.1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC
2. (countable, historical) A flat-bottomed vessel once employed by British merchants, notably in East Anglia, sometimes converted into pleasure boats.
   • Here I used to enjoy myself in playing about the bridge stairs, and often in the watermen's wherries, with other boys. On one of these occasions there was another boy with me in a wherry, and we went out into the current of the river: while we were there two more stout boys came to us in another...1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
3. A liquor made from the pulp of crab-apples after the verjuice is extracted.

See all 5 meanings of wherry