Adjacent Words

Berth definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BERTH, n. [from the root of bear.]
1. A station in which a ship rides at anchor, comprehending the space in which she ranges. In more familiar usage, the word signifies any situation or place, where a vessel lies or can lie, whether at anchor or at a wharf.
2. A room or apartment in a ship, where a number of officers or men mess and reside.
3. The box or place for sleeping at the sides of a cabin; the place for a hammoc, or a repository for chests, etc.
To berth, in seamen's language, is to allot to each man a place for his hammoc.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a job in an organization; "he occupied a post in the treasury" [syn: position, post, berth, office, spot, billet, place, situation]
2: a place where a craft can be made fast [syn: mooring, moorage, berth, slip]
3: a bed on a ship or train; usually in tiers [syn: berth, bunk, built in bed] v
1: provide with a berth
2: secure in or as if in a berth or dock; "tie up the boat" [syn: moor, berth, tie up]
3: come into or dock at a wharf; "the big ship wharfed in the evening" [syn: moor, berth, wharf]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English birth, probably from beren to bear + -th Date: 15th century 1. a. sufficient distance for maneuvering a ship b. an amount of distance maintained for safety <give the fire a wide berth> 2. a. the place where a ship lies when at anchor or at a wharf b. a space for an automotive vehicle at rest <a truck-loading berth> 3. a place to sit or sleep especially on a ship or vehicle ; accommodation 4. a. a billet on a ship b. job, position, place <a starting berth on the team> II. verb Date: 1667 transitive verb 1. to bring into a berth 2. to allot a berth to intransitive verb to come into a berth

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a fixed bunk on a ship, train, etc., for sleeping in. 2 a ship's place at a wharf. 3 room for a ship to swing at anchor. 4 adequate sea room. 5 colloq. a situation or appointment. 6 the proper place for anything. --v. 1 tr. moor (a ship) in its berth. 2 tr. provide a sleeping place for. 3 intr. (of a ship) come to its mooring-place. Phrases and idioms: give a wide berth to stay away from. Etymology: prob. f. naut. use of BEAR(1) + -TH(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Berth Berth, n. [From the root of bear to produce, like birth nativity. See Birth.] [Also written birth.] 1. (Naut.) (a) Convenient sea room. (b) A room in which a number of the officers or ship's company mess and reside. (c) The place where a ship lies when she is at anchor, or at a wharf. 2. An allotted place; an appointment; situation or employment. ``He has a good berth.'' --Totten. 3. A place in a ship to sleep in; a long box or shelf on the side of a cabin or stateroom, or of a railway car, for sleeping in. Berth deck, the deck next below the lower gun deck. --Ham. Nav. Encyc. To give (the land or any object) a wide berth, to keep at a distance from it.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Berth Berth, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Berthed; p. pr. & vb. n. Berthing.] 1. To give an anchorage to, or a place to lie at; to place in a berth; as, she was berthed stem to stern with the Adelaide. 2. To allot or furnish berths to, on shipboard; as, to berth a ship's company. --Totten.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(berths, berthing, berthed) 1. If you give someone or something a wide berth, you avoid them because you think they are unpleasant, or dangerous, or simply because you do not like them. She gives showbiz parties a wide berth. PHRASE: V inflects 2. A berth is a bed on a boat, train, or caravan. Goldring booked a berth on the first boat he could. N-COUNT 3. A berth is a space in a harbour where a ship stays for a period of time. = mooring N-COUNT 4. When a ship berths, it sails into harbour and stops at the quay. As the ship berthed in New York, McClintock was with the first immigration officers aboard. VERB: V • berthed There the Gripsholm was berthed next to another ship. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, usu ADJ prep

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. (Naut.) 1. Ship's station. 2. Bed, place to sleep in. 3. Situation, office, post, appointment, employment, place.

Foolish Dictionary

An aid to sleep, invented by Pullman. Lower preferred. (See BIRTH)

Moby Thesaurus

abide, accommodations, anchor, anchorage, anchorage ground, appointment, basin, bed, billet, breakwater, bulkhead, bunk, cohabit, connection, diggings, digs, dock, dockage, dockyard, domicile, domiciliate, doss down, dry dock, dwell, embankment, employment, engagement, gig, groin, hang out, harbor, harborage, haven, hook, house, housing, incumbency, inhabit, jetty, job, jutty, landing, landing place, landing stage, levee, live, living quarters, lob, lodge, lodging, lodgings, lodgment, marina, mole, moonlighting, mooring, mooring buoy, moorings, mudhook, nest, occupy, office, opening, perch, pier, place, port, position, post, protected anchorage, put up, quarter, quarters, quay, remain, reside, road, roads, roadstead, room, rooms, roost, seaport, seawall, second job, service, shelter, shipyard, situation, sleeping place, slip, spot, squat, stable, station, stay, tenant, tenure, vacancy, wharf