harbor

plural harbors · alternative Commonwealth harbour · alternative obsolete harborough · alternative obsolete herborough · alternative obsolete harborow

1. UScountableAny place of shelter.

   The neighborhood is a well-known harbor for petty thieves.

2. UScountablenauticalA sheltered expanse of water, adjacent to land, in which ships may anchor or dock, especially for loading and unloading.

   A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing, since adventurers come into it as well as go out, and the life in it grows strong, because it takes something from the world and has something to give in return.

   1881 October, Sarah Orne Jewett, “River Driftwood”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 48, number 288, page 510, column 2

   1 more example

   [T]here aboutes dwelt greate multitudes of people half wilde, hiding thẽſelues in caues of the grounde, of ſmall ſtature, and very fearefull, for as ſoone as they ſawe them they fled into their holes, and that there was a great riuer and very good harborough.

   1582, Nicolas [i.e., Nicolo] Zeno; Antonio Zeno, “The Discouerie of the Isles of Frisland, Iseland, Engroueland, Estotiland, Drogeo and Icaria, Made by M. Nicolas Zeno, Knight, and M. Antonio His Brother”, in R[ichard] H[akluyt], compiler, Divers Voyages Touching the Discouerie of America, and the Ilands adiacent vnto the Same, […], London: […] [Thomas Dawson] for Thomas Woodcocke, […], →OCLC, signatures D4, recto – D4, verso

3. UScountableA mixing box for materials.
4. UScountableobsoleteA house of the zodiac, or the mansion of a heavenly body.
5. USobsoleteuncountableShelter, refuge.

present singular third person harbors · participle present harboring · participle past harbored · past harbored · alternative Commonwealth harbour · alternative obsolete harborough · alternative obsolete herborough · alternative obsolete harborow

1. UStransitiveTo provide a harbor or safe place for.

   The docks, which once harbored tall ships, now harbor only petty thieves.

   1 more example

   Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.

   2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193

2. USintransitiveTo take refuge or shelter in a protected expanse of water.

   The fleet harbored in the south.

3. UStransitiveTo drive (a hunted stag) to covert.

   1 more example

   This is the time that the horseman are flung out, not having the cry to lead them to the death. When quadruped animals of the venery or hunting kind are at rest, the stag is said to be harboured, the buck lodged, the fox kennelled, the badger earthed, the otter vented or watched, the hare formed, and the rabbit set.

   1819, John Mayer, The Sportsman's Directory, or Park and Gamekeeper's Companion

4. UStransitiveTo hold or persistently entertain in one's thoughts or mind.

   She harbors a conviction that her husband has a secret, criminal past.

   3 more examples

   He said, “I am full of anger and bitterness at those people, but I will go to an AA meeting today and try to divest myself of these resentments, because if I hang on to resentments, I will drink again.” It occurred to me that this man was fortunate in being aware that harboring resentments is destructive.

   2007, Abraham J. Twerski, Happiness and the Human Spirit: The Spirituality of Becoming the Best You Can be, Jewish Lights Publishing, →ISBN, page 133

   Once I returned to the U.S., rather than harboring a grudge toward my captors, I would insist on being reassigned to Montesangre, reopening the embassy, and reestablishing diplomatic relations with the new regime.

   2013, Sandra Brown, Where There's Smoke, Hachette UK, →ISBN, page 268

   No one is saying that we should forget important parts of our own life stories. But that's not the same thing as harboring a grudge, is it?

   2019, Sophie Hannah, How to Hold a Grudge: From Resentment to Contentment—The Power of Grudges to Transform Your Life, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 43

plural Harbors

1. countableuncountableA surname, variant of Harbour.
2. countableuncountableA census-designated place in Curry County, Oregon, United States.