FERRY (ferried)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: ferried   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ferry mean? 

• FERRY (noun)
  The noun FERRY has 2 senses:

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

2. transport by boat or aircraft

  Familiarity information: FERRY used as a noun is rare.

• FERRY (verb)
  The verb FERRY has 3 senses:

1. transport from one place to another

2. transport by ferry

3. travel by ferry

  Familiarity information: FERRY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FERRY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

ferry; ferryboat

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Transport by boat or aircraft

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

ferry; ferrying

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)

• FERRY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ferry    ... he / she / it ferries   
Past simple: ferried   
Past participle: ferried   
-ing form: ferrying   

Sense 1

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)

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:

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)

 Context examples 

MY nearest way to Yarmouth, in coming back from these long walks, was by a ferry.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Residents were told to stay off the roads and businesses and ferries were closed to make way for vaccination teams.

(Samoan government temporarily shuts down for nationwide measles vaccination drive, Wikinews)

Then the plate continues to crawl ever deeper into the Earth's mantle, ferrying the water with it.

(Seismic study reveals huge amount of water dragged into Earth’s interior, National Science Foundation)

At a brisk trot the three friends left Cardillac and its wine-house behind them, riding without a halt past St. Macaire, and on by ferry over the river Dorpt.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He recovered it and was in the act of returning it, when Martin cried: What's that? A ferry ticket? Here, give it to me.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The introduction of pumps to ferry water from deep under the Kalahari to its surface has provided sustenance for livestock and fostered increasing herd sizes.

(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)

Microtubules are cylindrical structures that provide shape to cells and act as conveyor belts, ferrying molecular cargo throughout cells.

(Scientists unravel the mystery of the tubulin code, NIH)

By traveling from one ecosystem to another, alligators ferry nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from place to place in the food they eat and excrete.

(Alligators, rulers of the swamps, link marine and freshwater ecosystems, NSF)

Warmer, saltier water from the depths is ferried to the surface, where air chills it and makes it denser than the water below.

(Data from robotic drifters explain mysterious holes in Antarctic sea ice, National Science Foundation)

And there is also no ferry, answered Gretel, but a white duck is swimming there: if I ask her, she will help us over.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)