wharfinger
(ˈhwɔːfɪndʒə(r))
Also 8 wharfenger.
[app. for earlier *wharfager (f. wharfage + -er1), like harbinger, passenger, messenger for earlier harbeger, passager, messager.]
An owner or keeper of a wharf.
| 1552–3 Act 7 Edw. VI, c. 7 §3 No person..shall buy any suche Wood Coles or Fuell but onelye suche as will..consume the same,..without fraude or covine, or Wharfingers or Bargemen. 1642 Two Orders of Lds. & Comm. 3 Dec. 2 No Carrier, Waggoner, Watchman, Wharfinger. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4024/4 Francis Haslewood, of London, Cornfactor, and Wharfenger. 1761 Ann. Reg., Chron. 119 Whether the wharfingers are accountable for the thefts committed on board their lighters. 1858 Redfield Law Railways xvi. §7. 250 note, A delivery to the wharfinger without notice, if warranted by the usage of the place, was sufficient. 1911 Sir H. Craik Life Clarendon I. ii. 42 Their goods were thus delayed at the caprice of the wharfinger. |