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Ship vs Ferry - What's the difference?

ship | ferry |

Ferry is a synonym of ship.



In transitive terms the difference between ship and ferry

is that ship is to pass (from one person to another) while ferry is to carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.

In intransitive terms the difference between ship and ferry

is that ship is to embark on a ship while ferry is to pass over water in a boat or by ferry.

ship

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ship, schip, from (etyl) scip, from (etyl) . (cognates) Cognate with (etyl) skip, (etyl) schip, (etyl) Schiff, (etyl) .

Alternative forms

* shippe (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A water-borne vessel generally larger than a boat.
  • (chiefly, in combination) A vessel which travels through any medium other than across land, such as an airship or spaceship.
  • (archaic, nautical, formal) A sailing vessel with three or more square-rigged masts.
  • A dish or utensil (originally fashioned like the hull of a ship) used to hold incense.
  • (Tyndale)
    Usage notes
    * The singular form (term) is sometimes used without any , producing such sentences as "In all, we spent three weeks aboard ship." and "Abandon ship!". (Similar patterns may be seen with many place nouns, such as (camp), (home), (work), and (school), but the details vary between them.) * Ships are traditionally regarded as feminine and the pronouns (her) and (she) are normally used instead of (it).
    Hyponyms
    *
    Derived terms
    * abandon ship * airship * battleship * cargo ship * coffin ship * cruise ship * escort ship * fireship * Her Majesty's Ship, His Majesty's Ship * jump ship * merchant ship * midship, midships * mother ship * sailing ship * ship ahoy! * shipboard * ship-breaker * shipbuilder * shipbuilding * ship canal * ship chandler * ship fever * shipload * shipmate * shipmaster * shipowner * ship's company * shipshape * ships that pass in the night * ship-to-shore * shipwise * shipwreck * shipwright * shipyard * sinking ship * sister ship * slave ship * spaceship * starship * tall ship * tight ship * transport ship * warship

    Verb

    (shipp)
  • (label) To send by water-borne transport.
  • * (Richard Knolles) (1545-1610)
  • The timber wasshipped in the bay of Attalia, from whence it was by sea transported to Pelusium.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.}}
  • (label) To send (a parcel or container) to a recipient (by any means of transport).
  • (label) To engage to serve on board a vessel.
  • * 1851 , (Herman Melville), (Moby-Dick) ,
  • With finger pointed and eye levelled at the Pequod, the beggar-like stranger stood a moment, as if in a troubled reverie; then starting a little, turned and said:—“Ye’ve shipped , have ye? Names down on the papers? Well, well, what’s signed, is signed; and what’s to be, will be;
  • (label) To embark on a ship.
  • To put in its place.
  • (label) To take in (water) over the sides of a vessel.
  • (label) To pass (from one person to another).
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia , passage=And when scrum-half Ben Youngs, who had a poor game, was burgled by opposite number Irakli Abuseridze and the ball shipped down the line to Irakli Machkhaneli, it looked like Georgia had scored a try of their own, but the winger's foot was in touch.}}
  • To go all in.
  • (label) To trade or send a player to another team.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 1, author=Tom Fordyce, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16-12 Scotland , passage=England were shipping penalties at an alarming rate - five in the first 15 minutes alone - and with Wilkinson missing three long-distance pots of his own in the first 20 minutes, the alarm bells began to ring for Martin Johnson's men.}}
    Derived terms
    * shipment * shippage (rare)

    Etymology 2

    From (relationship).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (fandom) A fictional romantic relationship between two persons, either real or themselves fictional.
  • Verb

    (shipp)
  • (fandom) To write fiction that includes fictional romantic relationships between two persons, either real or themselves fictional.
  • I ship Kirk and Spock in my ''Star Trek'' fan fiction.
    See also
    * -ship

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * * *

    ferry

    English

    Noun

    (ferries)
  • A ship used to transport people, smaller vehicles and goods from one port to another, usually on a regular schedule.
  • A place where passengers are transported across water in such a ship.
  • * Milton
  • It can pass the ferry backward into light.
  • * Campbell
  • to row me o'er the ferry
  • * around 1900 , O. Henry,
  • She walked into the waiting-room of the ferry , and up the stairs, and by a marvellous swift, little run, caught the ferry-boat that was just going out.
  • The legal right or franchise that entitles a corporate body or an individual to operate such a service.
  • Derived terms

    * ferry bridge * ferry railway

    Descendants

    * French: (l) * Malay: (l) * Swahili: (l)

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • To carry; transport; convey.
  • * 2007 , Rick Bass, The Lives of Rocks :
  • We ferried our stock in U-Haul trailers, and across the months, as we purchased more cowflesh from the Goat Man — meat vanishing into the ether again and again, as if into some quarkish void — we became familiar enough with Sloat and his daughter to learn that her name was Flozelle, and to visit with them about matters other than stock.
  • To move someone or something from one place to another, usually repeatedly.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=13 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) , title= Ideas coming down the track , passage=A “moving platform” scheme
  • To carry or transport over a contracted body of water, as a river or strait, in a boat or other floating conveyance plying between opposite shores.
  • To pass over water in a boat or by ferry.
  • * Milton
  • They ferry over this Lethean sound / Both to and fro.

    See also

    * boat * ship

    Anagrams

    * ----