▪ I. wherry, n.1
(ˈhwɛrɪ)
Also 5–6 whery(e, 6 wherrye, -ey, where, whirie, whyr(i)e, whyrry(e, -ie, wheary, 6–7 wherie, whirr(e)y, -ie, 7 wheery, 9 whurry.
[Etymology obscure; perh. f. whirr with suggestion of rapid movement.]
1. A light rowing-boat used chiefly on rivers to carry passengers and goods.
| 1443 For. Acc. 21 Hen. VI G dorso (P.R.O.), Vnius Batelle vocate Whery. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 6 There came suche a winde fro wynchester That blewe these women ouer the ryuer, In wherye. 1534 Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 24 For murderinge of two straungers in a wherie in the Thames. 1536 MSS. Dk. Rutland (Hist. MSS. Comm.) IV. 277 Payd to Robert Day..for 1 day with his where with my Lady,..viij d. 1555 Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary c. 16 Preamble, The Whiries & Boates nowe occupied & used and of late tyme made for Rowing upon the said Ryver [Thames]. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 635 He toke a Whirry, and so escaped to London. a 1591 H. Smith Six Serm. (1594) 83 They tremble for feare, like women that shrike at euery stir in the whirry. 1666 Pepys Diary 13 Sept., My pictures and fine things, that I will bring home in wherrys. 1689 Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 302 John Temple..flung himself over a wherry when it was shooting London bridge. 1723 Swift Judge Boat 24 Our Boat is now sail'd to the Stygian Ferry, There to supply old Charon's leaky Wherry. 1759 Universal Chron. 14–21 July 231/1 Two young fellows going up the Isis in a wherry with a sail, were overset by a sudden gust of wind. 1780 Falconer Dict. Marine, Yawl, a wherry or small ship's boat, usually rowed by four or six oars. 1857 Dickens Dorrit ii. ix, Nothing moving on the stream but watermen's wherries and coal-lighters. 1861 Chamb. Encycl. II. 177/2 The Thames wherry..is stoutly built and is constructed to carry about eight passengers. It is usually managed by one sculler or two oarsmen. 1877 Black Green Past. xxvii, Smaller craft—wherries, steam-launches, tenders, and what not. |
2. A large boat of the barge kind: see
quots. local.
| a 1589 R. Lane in Hakluyt's Voy. 740, I tooke a resolution with my selfe..to enter presently so farre into that Riuer with two double whirries, and fourtie persons one or other. 1691 Lond. Gaz. No. 2672/3 Four large Wheries..which we brought..from Dublin, in which were put 150 Granadiers. a 1788 in Orig. Forty-Five (S.H.S. 1916) 260 They were alarmed by five wherries, the same, as they supposed, that landed the Campbells the night before... The wherries sailed by to the southward without ever stopping. 1829 Brockett N.C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Whurry, wherry, a large boat—a sort of barge or lighter. 1857 Wright Prov. Dict. s.v., A wherry..on the East-Norfolk and East-Suffolk rivers it is a large sailing boat, carrying from 15 to 35 tons of merchandise. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Wherry,..a decked vessel used in fishing in different parts of Great Britain and Ireland. 1891 Daily News 3 Oct. 3/8 A coal wherry belonging to Atkinson, Shields. |
3. A large four-wheeled dray or cart without sides.
local.
| 1881 [see wherry driver in 4]. 1886 Leeds Mercury 1 Apr., One new light Spring Wherry, carry one ton. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 1)
wherry-boat,
wherry-rower,
wherry-slave,
wherry-wharf, (sense 2)
wherry yacht, (sense 3)
wherry-driver. Also
wherryman.
| 1538 Fitzherb. Just. Peas 134 Passynge the riuers of Thames or Medwaye by barge or *wheribote. 1600 Holland Livy xxv. x, The Captaine..escaped to the key, where he tooke a small barge or whirrie-bote. |
| 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) Index 178 *Wherry driver. |
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 11 Bargemen, *whery rowers, and dysers. |
| 1569 Jewel Def. Apol. (1571) 202 You maie remember, that Iulius the 2..from a *whearyslaue, not longe sithence became a Pope. |
| 1884 ‘H. Collingwood’ Under Meteor Flag xxiv, We reached the *wherry-wharf at Kingston. |
| 1896 Daily News 3 June 5/6 At Lowestoft..Dr. Jameson..boarded a *wherry yacht. |
Hence
ˈwherry v. trans., to carry in or as in a wherry;
ˈwherrying vbl. n., the plying of a wherry.
| 1827 Montgomery Pelican Isl. i. 244 Buoyant shells, On stormless voyages..Wherried their tiny mariners. 1902 Longm. Mag. Nov. 41, I chucked up th' wherryen' and went deek-drawen'. 1909 Daily Chron. 30 Dec. 3/1 [They] are men who have always picked up their living by wild fowling, poaching, wherrying. |
▪ II. ˈwherry, n.2 dial. = wherret n.| 1726 Vanbrugh Journ. Lond. i. (1728) 14 Somewhat fetcht me such a wherry a-cross the Shins, that dawn came I flop o' my Feace. |
▪ III. wherry obs. var. whirry v.