# berth

Pronunciation: say "BURTH" US /bɜɹθ/, UK/AUS /bɜːθ/

## Noun

1. A spot where a vessel can stay, either at anchor or made fast to a mooring.
   - Simple: A place where a ship stops and is tied up or anchored.
   - _The whaler returned to her berth with a hold full of sperm oil._
   - _The harbor master assigned the tanker a berth at the far end of the quay._
2. A place to sleep on a vessel, especially a bed fixed along the side of a cabin.
   - Simple: A bed on a ship, often built into the wall of a cabin.
   - _On the overnight ferry, I climbed into the top berth and slept until dawn._
   - _The watch were all out of their berths, dragging one poor fellow from his to wake him._
3. A bunk or other bed for sleeping in a train, caravan, or similar vehicle.
   - Simple: A bed for sleeping on a train or in a camper.
   - _The old Pullman sections, each with an upper and lower berth, offered no privacy but a curtain._
   - _She drew the curtain across her berth and tried to sleep as the train rattled north._
4. Chiefly in wide berth, sufficient space for maneuvering or safety; a safe distance.
   - Simple: Enough space to stay safe or to move, mostly in the phrase a wide berth.
   - _The road was too narrow to give the phantom what seamen call a wide berth._
   - _Investors have given the company a wide berth since the scandal._
5. In sports, a position or seed in a tournament bracket.
   - Simple: A place in a sports competition, such as a spot in the finals.
   - _The conference champion receives an automatic berth in the national tournament._
   - _Two wild-card berths went to teams from the same division._
6. An appointment or post, particularly one that people think of as easy or desirable.
   - Simple: A job or position, especially an easy and comfortable one.
   - _After years of freelancing, he landed a comfortable berth at a law firm._
   - _The post was a snug berth: short hours, steady pay, and nobody looking over her shoulder._
7. In road transport, a place for a vehicle to park or stand.
   - Simple: A place where a vehicle can park or stand.
   - _Buses wait in their berths until the departure board calls them forward._
   - _The driver pulled the truck into berth 4 to wait for its turn on the scale._
10. In sports, a position on the field of play.
   - Simple: A place on the field that a player fills during a game.
   - _Walcott reverted to his familiar berth on the right wing and created the fifth goal._
   - _Three players are competing for one berth in midfield._
11. An assigned place for a person, historically in a horse-drawn coach or other conveyance, or in a barracks.
   - Simple: A person's own place in a coach, in the past, or in a barracks for soldiers.
   - _A passenger who booked early got the best berth in the coach, facing forward._
   - _Recruits were shown to their berths and told to be silent after lights out._
12. A room in a vessel where the officers or company mess and live; also, a room or other place in a vessel used for storage.
   - Simple: A room on a ship where the officers or crew eat and live, or a room used for storage.
   - _It was the first day Jack entered the midshipmen's berth and met his messmates._
   - _Smollett's hero is shown a berth several feet under water, dark as a dungeon._
13. Employment aboard a ship, or the particular post a person fills as part of its crew.
   - Simple: A job on a ship.
   - _After years as a cook, he finally landed a berth as first mate on a cargo ship._
   - _She signed on for a berth as second mate._
17. Chiefly in nautical use, the proper place for a thing. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The right place for something, in sailors' slang.
   - _The shipwrights cut every timber and placed it in its proper berth, Defoe records._
   - _A tidy bosun knows the berth of every block and shackle aboard._

## Verb

8. Of a vessel: to move into a berth, often reflexive.
   - Simple: Of a ship, to come into its place at the dock. Often used with herself or itself.
   - _The ship ran up with the tide and berthed herself so well that no pilot could have done better._
   - _Tankers berth themselves at the jetty with tugs standing by._
9. In nautical use, to bring a vessel into a berth; also, to provide a berth for a vessel.
   - Simple: To bring a ship into its place at the dock, or to give a ship a place there.
   - _The new pier will let the port berth two cruise ships at once._
   - _Tugs berthed the carrier in under an hour._
14. To assign someone a berth or sleeping place on a vessel, train, or the like, chiefly in the passive.
   - Simple: To give someone a bed on a ship or train. Usually in the passive.
   - _Passengers were berthed two to a cabin on the crossing._
   - _The purser will berth the late arrivals wherever space remains._
15. To have one's bunk or living quarters in a particular berth, as a sailor or passenger does aboard ship.
   - Simple: To sleep or live in a berth.
   - _As a young deckhand, he berthed with six other men in a cramped forward cabin._
   - _Officers berth aft and the hands forward, by old custom._
16. To provide someone with an appointment, job, or position.
   - Simple: To give someone a job or position.
   - _The admiral berthed his old coxswain as harbormaster._
   - _A patron could berth a young man comfortably in the customs house._
18. In astronautics, to bring a spacecraft into its berth or dock using a device such as a robotic arm.
   - Simple: To use a machine, such as a robot arm, to bring a spacecraft into its docking place.
   - _Astronauts berth cargo craft by capturing them with the arm and guiding them to the port._
   - _The capsule was berthed to the nadir port six hours after launch._

## Verb

19. In shipbuilding, to construct a ship or part of it with boards or planks. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: In old shipbuilding, to cover a ship's frame with wooden planks.
   - _When you have berthed her up to the planks, John Smith writes, lay the beams of the first orlop._
   - _Shipwrights berth the frames from the keel upward._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–18** — The noun comes from Late Middle English birth, a nautical term for bearing off, clearance, or berth. Its further origin is uncertain, but it probably comes from beren ('to carry, bear') plus the noun-forming suffix -th, making it a doublet of 'birth'. The verb comes from the noun.
**Meaning 19** — It was possibly borrowed from Icelandic byrði ('side of a ship, board').

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/berth (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).