wharf

wharf, dock, pier, quay, slip, berth, jetty, levee signify a structure used by boats and ships for taking on or landing cargo or passengers.

Wharf applies to a structure projecting from the shore that permits boats or ships to lie alongside for loading or unloading

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a ship maneuvering slowly up to the wharf

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the townsfolk rush to the wharves to welcome with cheers and banners the precious cargo of food— Life

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at the foot of this street ... a rude wharf of logs was chained together and moored— Amer. Guide Series: Vt.

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a boy sitting on the edge of the wharf, his feet dangling in the water

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Dock is usually interchange-able with wharf but can be restricted to signify an enclosed basin which permits the entrance of a vessel for loading or unloading or which, with floodgates and a method of exhausting water, can be used for building or repairing ships

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a summer lake cottage with a short dock for canoes and rowboats

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a dock on Occoquan Creek— Amer. Guide Series: Va.

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the New York docks

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bring a ship into dock for repairs

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Pier is interchangeable with dock or wharf especially as applied to a large or long structure shooting out quite a distance into a body of water

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a sloping earthen pier for the launching of boats—G. S. Perry

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a fishing dragger unloading its catch at a pier— Don Smith

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pulled the canoe up on the pier to empty it

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the New York harbor piers

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Quay usually refers to an artificial enbankment lying along or projecting from a shore and mainly used for loading or unloading; the term normally applies to wharves or piers characteristic of small places

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so she, also, got into the small boat; and together they went in to the quay, and got ashore— Black

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a quay is a docking facility at which vessels lie parallel to the shoreline— N. Y. Times

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Slip can apply to a sloping ramp usually constructed or used where the shore is high and shore water shallow

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on the slip a thick water hose was connected from a hydrant to the ship— Pizer

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rolling barrels down a slip into the ship's hold

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but it, like berth, can denote the space between two piers or wharves which gives room for a ship when anchored or not in use, and is more common for such a space intended or used for ferryboat landings or boardings

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about to sail from her berth at the foot of Fifth Street— Ships and the Sea

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a deep-chested liner rears through the thin haze, easing her way to a Hudson river berth—Amer. Guide Series: N.Y. City

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transatlantic liners in adjoining slips down at the docks

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a series of steamship piers and ferry slips

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Jetty although commonly applied to a structure serving as a breakwater for a harbor applies also to a small and usually not very substantial pier of timbers

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the harbor, from 30 to 60 feet deep, is protected by white marble jetties— Amer. Guide Series: Fla.

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fishermen . . . take their accustomed places on the wharves and jetties for the summer sport of gawking— Anable

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a jetty is usually built so that it lies parallel with the direction of the tidal stream, and at such jetties ships should always berth against the stream— Manual of Seamanship

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Levee primarily applies to an embankment for confining or restricting floodwaters but in the South and West, where a levee is often used for landing, the term is often the equivalent of quay

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build emergency levees to control a dangerously rising river

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down by the river's borders the new levees proclaim the grandsons' plans for a resurrected river traffic— Amer. Guide Series: Minn.

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