berth

Meanings

Noun

• A fixed bunk for sleeping (in caravans, trains, etc).
• Room for maneuvering or safety. (Often used in the phrase a wide berth.)
• A space for a ship to moor or a vehicle to park.
• A room in which a number of the officers or ship's company mess and reside.
• A job or position, especially on a ship.
• Position or seed in a tournament bracket.
• position on the field of play

Verb

• to bring (a ship or vehicle) into its berth
• to assign a berth (bunk or position) to

Origin

• Origin obscure. Possibly from Middle English *berth, equivalent to bear + -th. This would make it a birth.
• Alternatively, from an alteration of Middle English beard, bærde, itself of obscure formation. Compare Old English ġebǣru.