Wharf

//ˈwɔːf// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An artificial landing place for ships on a riverbank or shore.

    "Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea."

  2. 2
    a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats wordnet
  3. 3
    Any bank of a river or shore of a sea. obsolete

    "the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf"

Verb
  1. 1
    To secure by a wharf. transitive
  2. 2
    moor at a wharf wordnet
  3. 3
    To place on a wharf. transitive
  4. 4
    come into or dock at a wharf wordnet
  5. 5
    discharge at a wharf wordnet
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    store on a wharf wordnet
  2. 7
    provide with a wharf wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
dockdockpierquayanchorageanchorage ground

Example

More examples

"The wharf was always busy, even when the ships had yet to arrive."

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *hwerbaną Proto-West Germanic *hwerban Old English hweorfan Middle English wharf English wharf From Middle English wharf, from Old English hwearf (“heap, embankment, wharf”); related to Old English hweorfan (“to turn”), Old Saxon hwerf (whence German Werft and Warft), Dutch werf, Old High German hwarb (“a turn”), hwerban (“to turn”), Old Norse hvarf (“circle”), and Ancient Greek καρπός (karpós, “wrist”).

Related phrases

Cams WharfCanary WharfNords WharfRed Wharf Baygovernment wharfmarginal wharfwharf borerwharf ratwharf roachseaside dock

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.