Library / English Dictionary

FERRY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: ferried   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Transport by boat or aircraft

Synonyms:

ferry; ferrying

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("ferry" is a kind of...):

shipping; transport; transportation (the commercial enterprise of moving goods and materials)

Derivation:

ferry (transport from one place to another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A boat that transports people or vehicles across a body of water and operates on a regular schedule

Synonyms:

ferry; ferryboat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("ferry" is a kind of...):

boat (a small vessel for travel on water)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ferry"):

car-ferry (a ferry that transports motor vehicles)

Derivation:

ferry (travel by ferry)

ferry (transport by ferry)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Travel by ferry

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ferry" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

ferry (a boat that transports people or vehicles across a body of water and operates on a regular schedule)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Transport by ferry

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ferry" is one way to...):

transport (move something or somebody around; usually over long distances)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

ferry (a boat that transports people or vehicles across a body of water and operates on a regular schedule)

ferrying (transport by boat or aircraft)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Transport from one place to another

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "ferry" is one way to...):

bring; convey; take (take something or somebody with oneself somewhere)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

ferry (transport by boat or aircraft)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Clerks in the express office took charge of him; he was carted about in another wagon; a truck carried him, with an assortment of boxes and parcels, upon a ferry steamer; he was trucked off the steamer into a great railway depot, and finally he was deposited in an express car.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

“After strolling to the ferry looking for you, I strolled in here and found the place deserted. That set me thinking, and you found me thinking.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The picture of the bewhiskered trio, as he had last seen them, mulcted of four dollars and ninety cents and a ferry ticket, made him chuckle.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

At early dawn they passed across the broad, sluggish, reed-girt stream—men, horses, and baggage in the flat ferry barges—and so journeyed on through the fresh morning air past Exbury to Lepe.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The ten cents carried Martin across the ferry to San Francisco, and as he walked up Market Street he speculated upon his predicament in case he failed to collect the money.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The fishers of Viana were aroused that night by rough voices speaking in a strange tongue, and ere morning Sir Nigel and his men had ferried the river and were safe upon the land of Spain.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He crossed on the ferry to San Francisco and made his way to an employment office.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)