| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| berth |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  bûrth |
| NOUN: | 1. Sufficient space for a ship to maneuver; sea room: kept a clear berth of the reefs. 2. A space for a ship to dock or anchor: a steamship moored to its berth at the pier. 3a. Employment on a ship: sought an officer's berth in the merchant marine. b. A job: a comfortable berth as head of the department. 4a. A built-in bed or bunk, as on a ship or a train. b. A place to sleep or stay; accommodations: found a berth in a nearby hotel. 5. A space where a vehicle can be parked, as for loading. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: berthed, berth·ing, berths
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To bring (a ship) to a berth. 2. To provide with a berth. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To come to a berth; dock. | | IDIOM: | a wide berth Ample space or distance to avoid an unwanted consequence: gave their angry colleague a wide berth. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English birth; akin to perhaps akin to beren, to bear. See bear1.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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