QUAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does quay mean? 

• QUAY (noun)
  The noun QUAY has 1 sense:

1. wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline

  Familiarity information: QUAY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• QUAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wharf usually built parallel to the shoreline

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

dock; pier; wharf; wharfage (a platform built out from the shore into the water and supported by piles; provides access to ships and boats)

 Context examples 

“I'll put one to that,” cried the old mahogany-faced seaman—Morgan by name—whom I had seen in Long John's public-house upon the quays of Bristol.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The man next to me, upon the aft side, was one whom I had particularly noticed when we were led down the quay.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Three shining mackintoshed figures are walking down the quay, making for the gang-plank of the great liner from which the blue-peter is flying.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The band on the pier is playing a harsh waltz in good time, and further along the quay there is a Salvation Army meeting in a back street.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He knew Vevay well, and as soon as the boat touched the little quay, he hurried along the shore to La Tour, where the Carrols were living en pension.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Thither we had now to walk, and our way, to my great delight, lay along the quays and beside the great multitude of ships of all sizes and rigs and nations.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

On our little walk along the quays, he made himself the most interesting companion, telling me about the different ships that we passed by, their rig, tonnage, and nationality, explaining the work that was going forward—how one was discharging, another taking in cargo, and a third making ready for sea—and every now and then telling me some little anecdote of ships or seamen or repeating a nautical phrase till I had learned it perfectly.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)