How do you use the word "berth" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "berth": I'd like to reserve a sleeping berth. The sailor retired to his berth early.

Berth Meaning

/bɜːθ/

Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounChiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore.

nounChiefly in wide berth: a sufficient space in the water for a ship or other vessel to lie at anchor or manoeuvre without getting in the way of other vessels, or colliding into rocks or the shore., A place for a vessel to lie at anchor or to moor.

Sentence Examples

I'd like to reserve a sleeping berth.

The sailor retired to his berth early.

Whenever she sees me, she gives me a wide berth.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

post place office

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The large ship was assigned a wide ____ at the busy harbor dock.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The ship was safely secured in its ____ at the city's main harbor.

Word Origin & History

The noun is derived from Late Middle English birth (“(nautical) bearing away or off, clearance, berth”). Further etymology uncertain, but probably from beren (“to carry (away), bear”) + -th (suffix denoting a condition, quality, state of being, etc., forming nouns); if so, the English word is analysable as bear + -th (suffix forming nouns from verbs), and is a piecewise doublet of birth. The verb is derived from the noun.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"Tho' vve vvere again got near our harbour by three in the afternoon, yet it ſeemed to require a full hour or more, before vve could come to our former place of anchoring, or birth, as the captain called it." — a. 1755 (date written), Henry Fielding, The Journal of a Voyage to Lisbon, […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], published 1755, →OCLC, page 191:

""[…] She lays close to the Endymion, between her and the Cleopatra, just to the eastward of the sheer hulk." / "Ha!" cried William, "that's just where I should have put her myself. It's the best birth at Spithead.[…]"" — 1816 February 19, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for J[ohn] Murray, […], →OCLC, page 151:

"The voyage was a skilful and lucky one; and returning to her berth with her hold full of the precious sperm, the Amelia's example was soon followed by other ships, English and American, and thus the vast Sperm Whale grounds of the Pacific were thrown open." — 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Decanter”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, pages 493–494:

"Hard on the heels of the last Ostend boat train comes the first Calais train to connect with the sailing of the Invicta from Berth 2 directly opposite the platform end." — 1959 October 26, T. W. E. Roche, “Traffic Working at Dover Marine Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 680:

"And vvhen he had ſhevvn me their birth (as he called it) I vvas filled vvith aſtoniſhment and horror.—VVe deſcended by divers ladders to a ſpace as dark as a dungeon, vvhich I underſtood vvas immerſed ſeveral feet under vvater, being immediately above the hold: I had no ſooner approached this diſmal gulph, than my noſe vvas ſaluted vvith an intolerable ſtench of putrified cheeſe, and rancid butter, […]" — 1748, [Tobias Smollett], “I am Reduced to Great Misery—Assaulted on Tower-hill by a Press-gang, who Put Me on Board a Tender—My Usage there—My Arrival on Board of the Thunder Man of War, […]”, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 226:

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