different between wherry vs herry

English

Etymology

From Middle English whery (“small boat”), of obscure origin but cognate to French Houari [[1]] and Breton Ouari, as well as Welsh, Chweri « small boat ».

Noun

wherry (countable and uncountable, plural wherries)

1. (countable) A light ship used to navigate inland waterways.
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 2:

     O how I should like to see her floating in the water yonder, turban and all, with her train streaming after her, and her nose like the beak of a wherry.

   • 1932, John Dos Passos, 1919, Houghton Mifflin Company 2000, p. 67

     He went out for Freshman rowing but didn't make any of the crews and took to rowing by himself in a wherry three afternoons a week.

2. (countable, historical) A flat-bottomed vessel once employed by British merchants, notably in East Anglia, sometimes converted into pleasure boats.
   • 1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

     Here I used to enjoy myself in playing about the bridge stairs, and often in the watermen's wherries, with other boys. On one of these occasions there was another boy with me in a wherry, and we went out into the current of the river: while we were there two more stout boys came to us in another wherry, and, abusing us for taking the boat, desired me to get into the other wherry-boat. Accordingly I went to get out of the wherry I was in; but just as I had got one of my feet into the other boat the boys shoved it off, so that I fell into the Thames; and, not being able to swim, I should unavoidably have been drowned, but for the assistance of some watermen who providentially came to my relief.

   • 1928, Virginia Woolf, Orlando

     The river was astir early and late with barges, wherries, and craft of every description.

3. A liquor made from the pulp of crab apples after the verjuice is extracted.

Translations

See also

• ferry

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English heryen, herien, from Old English herian (“to extol, praise, commend, help”), from Proto-Germanic *hazjan? (“to call, praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *?ens- (“to speak in a florid, solemn style, attest, witness”). Cognate with Middle High German haren (“to call, shout”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (hazjan, “to praise”), Sanskrit ????? (?á?sati, “to announce; to praise, extol, commend”), Latin c?nse? (“inspect, appraise, estimate”, verb), Latin c?nsus (“estimation”). See censor, census.

Alternative forms

• herye

Verb

herry (third-person singular simple present herries, present participle herrying, simple past and past participle herried)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To honour, praise or celebrate.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, 1805, H. J. Todd (editorial notes), The Works of Edmund Spenser, page 185,

     Thenceforth it firmely was e?tabli?hed, / And for Apolloes temple highly herried.

Derived terms

• herrier
• herrying

Etymology 2

From earlier hery, from Middle English herien, her?en, herwen, from Old English hergian (“to ravage, plunder, lay waste, harry; seize, take, capture”), from Proto-Germanic *harj?n? (“to devastate, lay waste”). More at harry.

Alternative forms

• hery

Verb

herry (third-person singular simple present herries, present participle herrying, simple past and past participle herried)

1. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) Alternative form of harry
   • 1728, Robert Lindsay, Robert Freebairn, The History of Scotland: From 21 February, 1436, to March, 1565, page 44,

     In the Spring of the Year thereafter, this inte?tine War, within the Bowels of this Commonweal, began to increase ay more and more; and ?o continued two Years; during the which Time, the Dougla??es burnt and herried all Lands pertaining to the King and his A??i?ters; and al?o to them that were not plain on his Faction.

   • c. 1830, Andrew Picken, The Deer-Stalkers of Glenskiach, 1840, page 38,

     The victories of Inverlochy, of Alderne, and of Alford, the herrying of Argyleshire, and the sacking of Dundee, could scarcely make up for the terrible toils encountered in climhing the bleak precipices of the west, in wading through drifts of snow among the mountains during the depths of winter, […] .

Derived terms

• herrier
• herrying
• herriment, herryment