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Glite Dictionary
🌊 To cross water 🌊 A shallow crossing 🚶 An act of crossing
to ford

to ford

4 5.1
To cross a river at a shallow place by walking or driving
  • verb
  • /fɔrd/
translation icon : vadeo
  • The soldiers had to ford the stream to reach the other side of the valley.
  • ford the river

Examples

  • Dad wants credit for fording the creek.

    White Noise (2022)

  • Where can we ford the river into Texas?

    Major Dundee (1965)

  • That was as good a way to ford a river as any.

    Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

  • Looking for a place to ford, general.

    Patton (1970)

  • Father said, 'A few can go if you get back before we ford the river.'

    Fiction book (1998)

  • That bridge is not burned enough to stop you, and my men will ford the river.

    The General (1926)

  • More than once, he and the dog were forced to ford a stream.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • We can't ford the river.

    Kelly's Heroes (1970)

  • We walked upstream until we could ford the river, then walked back to the shack.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Once, when hiking, I forded a stream and Cali got caught up in the current.

    Blog text (30)

Antonyms

to stay put
  • Informal
133 2.0

Remain in the same place without moving

Compounds

Gerald R. Ford
8.2

A large United States Navy ship that carries aircraft and uses nuclear power

Gerald R. Ford
  • US
7.6

A class of United States Navy aircraft carriers built with new radar, weapons, and power systems

How Crossable

to ford
4 5.1
to wade
22 2.2
to cross
∞ 1.0
to swim
616 1.0

Surface Forms

ford infinitive
forded past
forded past participle
fording present participle
fords third person singular

Etymology

Ford as a verb comes from the same old word for a shallow crossing, so to ford a river is simply to go through that 'shallow place' on foot, by horse, or by vehicle.