wharfs

Variant of wharf

noun pl. wharves or wharfs

  1. a structure of wood or stone, sometimes roofed over, built at the shore of a harbor, river, etc. for ships to lie alongside, as during loading or unloading; pier; dock
  2. Obsolete a bank at the water's edge; shore

Origin: ME < OE hwerf, a dam or bank to keep out water, lit., a turning < base of hweorfan, to turn < IE base *kwerp-, to turn > Gr karpos, wrist

transitive verb

  1. to bring to a wharf; moor at a wharf
  2. to unload or store on a wharf
  3. to furnish with a wharf or wharves
Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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