ford

noun

1. 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.

   He swam the Esk river where ford there was none.

2. 2

   A stream; a current.

   With water of the ford / Or of the clouds.

   Permit my ghost to pass the Stygian ford.

verb

1. 1

   To cross a stream by walking through it.

   He named that place, for it was near her dwelling, and on the road between Balerynie and Heriotside, which fords the Sker Burn.

   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.

   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, http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide 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.

2. 2

   To traverse any precarious environment.

   I spent several days fording through dense jungle.

   I use my ample shoulders to ford through the crowd, ignoring a curse here, smothering boos here and there, and generally standing my ground in the face of the disapprovals of those I shove.

Forms

plural

fords

past tense

forded

past participle

forded

present participle

fording

third person singular

fords