harbour
pronunciation
How to pronounce harbour in British English:
UK [ˈhɑːbə(r)]
How to pronounce harbour in American English:
US [ˈhɑːrbər]
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- Noun:
- a sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo
- a place of refuge and comfort and security
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- Verb:
- secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)
- keep in one's possession; of animals
- hold back a thought or feeling about
- maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)
Word Origin
- harbour
- harbour: [OE] Etymologically, a harbour is a ‘shelter for a crowd of people’. English acquired it in the late Anglo-Saxon period as herebeorg, perhaps borrowed from Old Norse herbergi, but it began life as a compound of prehistoric Germanic *kharjaz, originally ‘crowd’, later specifically ‘army’ (source also of English harry and related to harness) and *berg- ‘protect’ (which occurs in a range of English words, including barrow ‘mound’, borough, borrow, and bury).The original sense ‘shelter for a crowd or army’ had broadened out by historic times to the more general ‘shelter, lodging’. That is what Old English herebeorg meant, and gradually it underwent further semantic development, via ‘place in which shelter can be obtained’, to (as recently as the 16th century) ‘place of shelter for ships, port’.=> barrow, borough, borrow, bury, harbinger, harness, harry, herald
- harbour
- chiefly British English spelling of harbor (n. and v.); for spelling, see -or. In this case it is considered to be without etymological justification and probably by analogy of labour.
Example
- 1. Pearl harbour changed america , and therefore the world .
- 2. On the other side of sydney harbour sits the taronga zoo .
- 3. For the best experience , ask for a table overlooking victoria harbour .
- 4. Meanwhile , 21 allied warships sat in the harbour .
- 5. The famous skyline and iconic harbour are the city 's touchstones .