Wharfinger
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The manager or owner of a wharf (“artificial landing place for ships on a riverbank or shore”). historical
"Near-synonym: dockmaster"
- 2 The manager of a wharf along a railway line, that is, a place used for loading and unloading goods on to trains. England, broadly
"A female wharfinger—a grade of staff peculiar to the Wenford Mineral Line—lives in an adjacent house."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"And be it further enacted by the authority aforeſaid, that if any wharfinger, crane keeper, ſearcher, lyghterman, weighter or other officer pertayning to the ſubſidie cuſtome, or cuſtome houſe, doo at any time after the ſaid day, conſent or knowe any offence or thing to bee committed or done contrary to yͤ true meani[n]g of this act, or any article ther in contained, and doo not within one moneth next after knowledge thereof had, diſcloſe the ſame to the chiefe cuſtomer […] ſhall for euery ſuch concelement, or not diſcloſing ſuch offence as is aforeſaid, forf[eit] & loſe C.li. of good and lawful money of England."
Etymology
From Late Middle English wharfager (“keeper of a wharf”) (modified in the same way as messenger from Middle English messager, passenger from Middle English passager, etc.), from wharfage (“use of a wharf; payment for such use”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns, especially names of persons engaged in professions or trades). Wharfage is probably derived from Medieval Latin wharfāgium, or from Middle English wharf (“structure projecting into a body of water for ships to moor and load or unload, pier, quay, wharf”) + -age (suffix forming nouns denoting actions, states, etc.). By surface analysis, wharfage + -er.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.