English

Proper noun

Ford

1. A topographic surname​ for someone who lived near a ford.

Noun

Ford ‎(plural Fords)

1. A make of car, named for Henry Ford.
   • Willa Cather, My Antonia (2006) p. 187:

     They have a Ford car now, and she don't seem so far away from me as she used to.

   • Hester Browne, The Little Lady Agency (2006) p. 59:

     I remembered too late that Honey should probably drive a cute little Mini or a Ford Fiesta or some such. Damn.

   • William Braxton Irvine, On Desire: Why We Want What We Want (2005) p. 26:

     He is disturbed not by the crass materialism of his life but by the fact that he is still driving a Ford when he could and should be driving a Porsche.

   • Robert McCrum, Wodehouse: A Life (2004) p. 154:

     When she spotted her stepfather coming towards her she had pulled over and Wodehouse crossed over to greet her, noticing too late that she was being followed by a Ford, which swerved to avoid the Buick.

   • Keith Bradsher, High and Mighty: The Dangerous Rise of the Suv (2004) p. 304:

     A Ford dealer in Saudi Arabia repeatedly warned the automaker the same year that Firestone tires were failing on Explorers.

     ...

     A Ford memo in March 1999 said that Firestone's legal staff did not want to to replace tires in Saudi Arabia for fear that doing so would require Firestone to notify NHTSA, and added that a Ford lawyer had worries "similar to the Firestone concerns."

   • Lois Lowry, The Silent Boy (2003) p. 140:

     But if he had a Ford automobile, he could simply telephone the garage, and--

     ...

     We didn't need a Ford motorcar.

   • Elmore Leonard, Killshot (2003):

     Elmore Leonard is as dependable as a Ford used to be and as knowing as a New York fashion designer.

   • Catherine Ryan Hyde, Pay It Forward (2000) p. 24:

     Unless, of course, he limped away, not sauntered off, maybe dragged himself to a hospital, maybe got out okay, maybe died, far from anything to tie him to a Ford extra cab, far from any ties to hometown news.

   • John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1998) p. 141:

     It is easy to see why the modern car manufacturer does not enjoy the eminence of a Ford or an Olds.

   • Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm (1995) p. 90:

     Why don't you go round the country with a Ford van, preaching on market days?

   • Bernard Goldberg, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes how the Media Distort the News (2001) p. 174:

     And they can also live in a bigger house and drive something a little fancier than a Chevy or a Ford.

   • Henry Ford, Samuel Crowther, My Life and Work (1922) p. 146:

     There were several of us and we had a little caravan — the Lanchester, a Packard, and a Ford or two.

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• foorth (obsolete, [14th century])

Noun

ford ‎(plural fords)

1. A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing.
   • Sir Walter Scott

     He swam the Esk river where ford there was none.

2. A stream; a current.
   • Spenser

     With water of the ford / Or of the clouds.

   • Dryden

     Permit my ghost to pass the Stygian ford.

Derived terms

• fordless

Translations

Verb

ford ‎(third-person singular simple present fords, present participle fording, simple past and past participle forded)

1. To cross a stream using a ford.
   • 1903, Mary Hunter Austin, The Land of Little Rain, Houghton Mifflin, pp. 31-2,

     Since the time of Seyavi the deer have shifted their feeding ground across the valley at the beginning of deep snows, by way of the Black Rock, fording the river at Charley's Butte, and making straight for the mouth of the cañon that is the easiest going to the winter pastures on Waban.

   • 1982, Nadine Gordimer, "A Hunting Accident" in A Soldier's Embrace, Penguin, p. 59,

     Ratau drove with reckless authority through the quiet morning fires of his father's and forefathers' town and forded a river of goats on the road leading out of it.

   • 2016, Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd, "EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2016" in earthsky.org,

     Some who witnessed the 1966 Leonid meteor storm said they felt as if they needed to grip the ground, so strong was the impression of Earth plowing along through space, fording the meteoroid stream.

Derived terms

• fordable
• forder
• fording

Translations

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *furduz ‎(“crossing, ford”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥téw-, the oblique stem of Proto-Indo-European *pértus, from *per- ‎(“to ferry, put across”). Cognate with Old Saxon ford ‎(“ford”), Old High German furt. More at fare.

Noun

ford m ‎(nominative plural forda)

1. ford.
2. waterway.

Declension

Descendants

• Middle English: ford
  • English: ford

Welsh

Noun

ford

1. Soft mutation of bord.