berth

Meaning

Noun

1. Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.
2. Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.
3. Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.
4. Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.
5. An assigned place for a person in (chiefly historical) a horse-drawn coach or other means of transportation, or (military) in a barracks.
6. A bunk or other bed for sleeping on in a caravan, a train, etc.
7. A place for a vehicle on land to park.
8. An appointment, job, or position, especially one regarded as comfortable or good.
9. Chiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space for manoeuvring or safety.
10. (slang) A proper place for a thing.
11. A position or seed in a tournament bracket.
12. A position on a field of play.

Verb

1. To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).
2. To bring (a ship or other vessel) into a berth (noun sense 1.1); also, to provide a berth for (a vessel).
3. To assign (someone) a berth (noun sense 1.3 or sense 2.2) or place to sleep on a vessel, a train, etc.
4. To provide (someone) with a berth (noun sense 3.1) or appointment, job, or position.
5. Of a vessel: to move into a berth.
6. Of a person: to occupy a berth.

Verb

Chiefly in shipbuilding: to construct (a ship or part of it) using wooden boards or planks; to board, to plank.

Synonyms

moor

bunk

anchorage

moorage

bed

🛏️

wharf

tie up

anchor

⚓

position

post

billet

spot

cot

place

mooring

office

🏢

situation

sleeping berth

built in bed

slip

dock

haven

hitch on

hook on

lair

land

landing stage

layer

locale

location

locus

lower

mend

moorings

niche

patch

point

poise

seat

💺

shipping space

site

slot

start

stratum

tackle

tie-up

come to anchor

venue

call at a port

come alongside

reserved seat

plank-bed

moar

ship’s space

accost

marina berth

address

anchorage ground

appointment

approach

attach

bay

begin

bring up

cabin

camp

cast anchor

chair

🪑

collide with

commence

couch

🛋️

couchette

crash into

deal with

encampment

filling

Pronounced as (IPA)

/bɜːθ/

Etymology

The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”); further etymology uncertain, probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns), Beren is derived from Old English beran (“to carry, hold, bear”), from Proto-West Germanic *beran (“to carry, bear”), from Proto-Germanic *beraną (“to carry, bear”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰéreti (“to be carrying”), from *bʰer- (“to carry, bear”). If so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a piecewise doublet of birth.
The verb is derived from the noun.