noun, plural ferries. 1. a commercial service with terminals and boats for transporting persons, automobiles, etc., across a river or other comparatively small body of water. 2. a ferryboat.
Examples and related terms. A loanword is distinguished from a calque (loan translation), which is a word or phrase whose meaning or idiom is adopted from another language by translation into existing words or word-forming roots of the recipient language.
(spÄl) v. spelled or spelt (spÄlt), spellÂ·ing, spells. v.tr. 1. To name or write in order the letters constituting (a word). 2. To constitute the letters of (a word): These letters spell animal. 3. To add up to; signify: Their unwise investment could spell financial ruin.