Definition of "wharf"

wharf

/(h)wɔːf/

noun
plural wharves or wharfs
1. A man-made landing place for ships on a shore or river bank.
  Quotations
  Commerce pushes its wharves into the sea.
  1834–1874, George Bancroft, History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent
  Out upon the wharfs they came, / Knight and burgher, lord and dame, / And round the prow they read her name, / The Lady of Shalott.
  1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Lady of Shalott”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], part IV, page 86
2. The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea.
  Quotations
  the fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene v]
verb
third-person singular simple present wharfs, present participle wharfing, simple past and past participle wharfed
1. (transitive) To secure by a wharf.
2. (transitive) To place on a wharf.