wharfage

English

Etymology

From Middle English wharfage; equivalent to wharf +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔː.fɪd͡ʒ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɔɹ.fɪd͡ʒ/
• (without the wine–whine merger) IPA^(key): /ˈhwɔɹ.fɪd͡ʒ/

Noun

wharfage (countable and uncountable, plural wharfages)

1. A dock, quay, or pier.
2. Wharfs collectively.
   • 1924, Saki, “The Old Town of Pskoff”, in The Square Egg and Other Sketches‎^[1], London: John Lane, page 156:

     It is pleasant to swim well out into the stream of the river, and, with one’s chin on a level with the wide stretch of water, take in a “trout’s-eye view” of the little town, ascending in tiers of wharfage, trees, grey ramparts, more trees, and clustered roofs, with the old cathedral of the Trinity poised guardian-like above the crumbling walls of the Kremlin.

   • 1940 May, “The Why and the Wherefore: The Coley Branch, G.W.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 317:

     It was also pointed out wharfage and factory sites with river and canal frontage were adjoining.

3. A fee charged for using a wharf.
   • 1895, John Houston Merrill, The American and English Encyclopedia of Law‎^[2], page 100:

     If the owner of goods deposited at a wharf sells them, and gives notice to the wharfinger of such sale, on tendering the wharfage then due, he is discharged from liability for future wharfage.

   • 1913, United States. Army. Corps of Engineers, Water terminal and transfer facilities, page 537:

     the wharfage or shorage rates are 10 cents per cord of wood, 10 cents per thousand feet of lumber, and 1 cent per tie, and these rates do not include handling

Synonyms

• (all senses): dockage

Coordinate terms

• (wharf usage fee): shorage, demurrage, cranage, tonnage, shippage

Derived terms

• wharfinger

 

Middle English

Alternative forms

• wharvage, wharffage, warfeage

Etymology

From wharf +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hwarˈfaːd͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

wharfage (uncountable) (rare)

1. utilisation of a wharf
2. wharfage (wharf fee)

Descendants

• English: wharfage

References

• “wharfāǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-12-12.