WHARFING

Etymology

Noun

wharfing (countable and uncountable, plural wharfings)

Wharfs collectively.

The material for constructing a wharf.

(engineering) A technique of facing seawalls and embankments with planks driven as piles and secured by ties.

Source: Wiktionary


Wharf"ing, n.

1. Wharfs, collectively.

2. (Hydraul. Engin.)

Definition: A mode of facing sea walls and embankments with planks driven as piles and secured by ties. Knight.

WHARF

Wharf, n.; pl. Wharfs or Wharves. Etym: [AS. hwerf, hwearf, a returning, a change, from hweorfan to turn, turn about, go about; akin to D. werf a wharf, G. werft, Sw. varf a shipbuilder's yard, Dan. verft wharf, dockyard, G. werben to enlist, to engage, woo, OHG. werban to turn about, go about, be active or occupied, Icel. hverfa to turn, Goth. hwaĆ­rban, hwarbon, to walk. Cf. Whirl.]

1. A structure or platform of timber, masonry, iron, earth, or other material, built on the shore of a harbor, river, canal, or the like, and usually extending from the shore to deep water, so that vessels may lie close alongside to receive and discharge cargo, passengers, etc.; a quay; a pier. Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea. Bancroft. Out upon the wharfs they came, Knight and burgher, lord and dame. Tennyson.

Note: The plural of this word is generally written wharves in the United States, and wharfs in England; but many recent English writers use wharves.

2. Etym: [AS. hwearf.]

Definition: The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea. [Obs.] "The fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf." Shak. Wharf boat, a kind of boat moored at the bank of a river, and used for a wharf, in places where the height of the water is so variable that a fixed wharf would be useless. [U. S.] Bartlett.

– Wharf rat. (Zoƶl.) (a) The common brown rat. (b) A neglected boy who lives around the wharfs. [Slang]

Wharf, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wharfed; p. pr. & vb. n. Wharfing.]

1. To guard or secure by a firm wall of timber or stone constructed like a wharf; to furnish with a wharf or wharfs.

2. To place upon a wharf; to bring to a wharf.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 December 2024

UNAMBIGUOUS

(adjective) having or exhibiting a single clearly defined meaning; ā€œAs a horror, apartheid...is absolutely unambiguousā€- Mario Vargas Llosa


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