Forms: 1 ferian, feriȝ(e)an, 2–3 ferien, 4–5 fery, fere, 6 ferrie, 6– ferry. Also 3–4 verie(n, (5 veryen). [OE. fęrian = OHG. feren, ON. ferja, Goth. farjan:—OTeut. *farjan, f. far-om: see FARE sb.]

1

  † 1.  trans. To carry, convey, transport, take from one place to another. Obs.

2

Beowulf, 333 (Gr.). Hwanon feriȝeað ȝe fætte scyldas?

3

a. 1000.  Elene, 108 (Gr.).

        Heht … wiȝend … þæt haliȝe treo
Him beforan ferian on feonda gemang.

4

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 111. Ȝif he ȝeher-godne mon fereð to buriene.

5

c. 1205.  Lay., 10559.

        He uerde forð in sæ
uereden hine vðen.

6

a. 1300.  Seven Sins, 42, in E. E. P. (1862), 19. Þe fend him deriiþ . and is soul to helle he feriiþ.

7

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 1790.

        Þe kyng in his cortyn watȝ kaȝt bi þe heles,
Feryed out bi þe fete & fowle dispysed.

8

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 82. We … ferrie it to the deuil.

9

  2.  esp. To transport or convey over water (now only over a stream, canal, etc., formerly also over the sea) in a boat or ship, etc. Often to ferry (a person, etc.) over or across.

10

a. 1000.  Andreas, 293 (Gr.).

        We ðe estlice    mid us willað
Ferigan freolice    ofer fisces bæð.

11

a. 1000.  Riddles, xv. 7 (Gr.).

        Mec ofer mearce; hwilum merehengest
fereð ofer flodas.

12

1587.  F. James, in Hearne, Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), I. 199. For ferrienge oure horses … from Lambeth … 6d.

13

1602.  Fulbecke, 2nd Pt. Parall., 21. In this case without ferrying ouer the horse there was nothing due vnto the bargeman by reason of the couenant.

14

1609.  Heywood, Brit. Troy, V. xi. 6.

        The Phrigian host, now murdred without ruth:
Charon is tyr’d, with ferring soules to hell.

15

1701.  Lond. Gaz., No. 3722/2. Before night almost half of them were ferried over.

16

1784.  Cowper, Task, II. 38.

        And they themselves, once ferried o’er the wave
That parts us, are emancipate and loosed.

17

1822.  Hazlitt, Table-t., II. iii. 45. A girl who had ferried me over the Severn.

18

1877.  Miss Yonge, Cameos, IV. i. 15. He was ferried to the French bank.

19

  absol.  1457.  Nottingham Rec., II. 365. Item peid to Tomas Smyth, fychar, for fereyng v. deys at ye Bryges.

20

1843.  Marryat, M. Violet, xliv. The owner of a ferry … ferries only when he chooses.

21

  b.  To work (a boat, etc.) across or over.

22

1771.  Mrs. Griffith, trans. Viand’s Shipwreck, 92. The rotten canoe, that he had however contrived to ferry over.

23

1854.  J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. xv. 281. He promised a napoleon to every boat which was ferried across.

24

  c.  Of a vessel: To serve as a ferry-boat over.

25

1872.  W. F. Butler, Great Lone Land, iv. (1875), 55. A steamer ferries the broad swift-running stream.

26

  3.  intr. for refl. To convey oneself, go; now only, to pass over water in a boat or by a ferry. Of a boat: To pass to and fro.

27

a. 1000.  Byrhtnoth, 179 (Gr.).

        Þæt min sawul to þe siðian mote …
mid friðe ferian.

28

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 178. Crist seide to hem verie we over þe water.

29

c. 1450.  Lonelich, Grail, l. 176. In to here schippe forto take him, forto veryen ouer that lake.

30

1589.  Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 30. Thou temperest her exyle with thy banishment, and she sayling to Styx, thou ferriest ouer to Phlegeton.

31

1600.  Holland, Livy, V. i. (1609), 1383, note. They that would goe to it, used to ferry over in small punts or whirries.

32

1630.  R. Johnson, Relations of the Most Famous Kingdoms, etc., 631. Upon these waters doe ferry fiftie thousand Boats … to serve the use of the Citie.

33

1787.  Burns, A Verse.

        When death’s dark stream I ferry o’er,
  A time that surely shall come;
In Heaven itself I’ll ask no more,
  Than just a Highland welcome.

34

1833.  Lamb, Elia (1860), 267. It irks me to think, that, stript of thy regalities, thou shouldst ferry over, a poor forked shade, in crazy Stygian wherry.

35

1836.  T. E. Hook, Gilbert Gurney, III. vi. 333. The rain fell so much faster that I was glad to return to the inn, where I intended to remain until the weather cleared before I ferried back.

36

1887.  L. Oliphant, Episodes, 72. The whole crowd, red and white, when day broke, accompanied me to the river, and gave me three cheers as I ferried across it on my return journey.

37

  † b.  fig. To ferry over: to pass over, pretermit.

38

1477.  J. Paston, in Paston Lett., No. 787. III. 175. I may not wryght longe, wherffor I ffery over all thyngs tyll I may awayte on you my selff.

39