HARBOUR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does harbour mean? 

• HARBOUR (noun)
  The noun HARBOUR has 2 senses:

1. a sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo

2. a place of refuge and comfort and security

  Familiarity information: HARBOUR used as a noun is rare.

• HARBOUR (verb)
  The verb HARBOUR has 4 senses:

1. secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)

2. keep in one's possession; of animals

3. hold back a thought or feeling about

4. maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)

  Familiarity information: HARBOUR used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HARBOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour; haven; seaport

Hypernyms ("harbour" is a kind of...):

port (a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country)

Meronyms (parts of "harbour"):

dock; dockage; docking facility (landing in a harbor next to a pier where ships are loaded and unloaded or repaired; may have gates to let water in or out)

landing; landing place (structure providing a place where boats can land people or goods)

anchorage; anchorage ground (place for vessels to anchor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "harbour"):

coaling station (a seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal)

port of call (any port where a ship stops except its home port)

Instance hyponyms:

Caesarea (an ancient seaport in northwestern Israel; an important Roman city in ancient Palestine)

Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu to the west of Honolulu; location of a United States naval base that was attacked by the Japanese on 7 Dec 1941)

Boston Harbor (the seaport at Boston)

Holonyms ("harbour" is a part of...):

seafront (the waterfront of a seaside town)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A place of refuge and comfort and security

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour

Hypernyms ("harbour" is a kind of...):

asylum; refuge; sanctuary (a shelter from danger or hardship)

Derivation:

harbour (secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals))

• HARBOUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they harbour    ... he / she / it harbours   
Past simple: harboured   
Past participle: harboured   
-ing form: harbouring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour

Hypernyms (to "harbour" is one way to...):

shelter (provide shelter for)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

harbour (a place of refuge and comfort and security)

harbourage ((nautical) a place of refuge (as for a ship))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Keep in one's possession; of animals

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour

Hypernyms (to "harbour" is one way to...):

hold on; keep (retain possession of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hold back a thought or feeling about

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour; shield

Context example:

She is harboring a grudge against him

Hypernyms (to "harbour" is one way to...):

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

entertain; harbor; harbour; hold; nurse

Context example:

harbor a resentment

Hypernyms (to "harbour" is one way to...):

experience; feel (undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Every boat in the harbour seemed to be there, and the coffin was carried by captains all the way from Tate Hill Pier up to the churchyard.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The researchers studied over 1,500 mother-child pairs and found that just under a half (45%) of individuals within these pairs harboured mutations affecting at least 1% of their mitochondrial DNA.

(Interplay between mitochondria and the nucleus may have implications for changing cell’s ‘batteries’, University of Cambridge)

"Mars harboured water billions of years ago, meaning some form of life might have thrived there," said Mark Sephton, Head of Imperial's Department of Earth Science & Engineering.

(Red Planet May Have Harbored Life in Past, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

As I turned the promontory I perceived a small neat town and a good harbour, which I entered, my heart bounding with joy at my unexpected escape.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

When I arrived at the port of Maldonada (for so it is called) there was no ship in the harbour bound for Luggnagg, nor likely to be in some time.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

He at once put the Ghost upon her course—a course which meant the seal herd and not Yokohama harbour.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

But by G—, you lost a fine sight by not being here in the morning to see the Thrush go out of harbour!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Not that St. John harboured a spirit of unchristian vindictiveness—not that he would have injured a hair of my head, if it had been fully in his power to do so.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And here you are, Mary, and you also, Roddy, and good luck to the carronade which has sent me into so snug a harbour without fear of sailing orders.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The fever was over, and Emma could harbour little fear of the pulse being quickened again by injurious courtesy.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)