quay

noun

ˈkē  ˈkā  ˈkwā 

: a structure built parallel to the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place

Synonyms

• dock
• float
• jetty
• landing
• levee
• pier
• quai
• wharf

Examples of quay in a Sentence

docked the ferry at the quay to let the passengers off

Recent Examples on the Web

The decision to base the hotel opposite the quays in Kowloon, and not on Hong Kong Island itself, was no coincidence. —Isabelle Kliger, Forbes, 29 Mar. 2024

That collision, on July 11, 2016, resulted in a quay wall being damaged, Antwerp port authorities said in a statement. —NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024

The Dali previously collided with a platform, known as a quay, while leaving the Port of Antwerp in Belgium in July 2016, according to VesselFinder. —Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 27 Mar. 2024

People lingering on the quay during daytime hours risk being hit with a fine of almost $300. —David Nikel, Forbes, 23 Feb. 2024

On weekends—the restaurant weekend is Sunday and Monday—Eugénie runs, and meets a boxing instructor to hook and jab on the quays of the Seine. —Jo Rodgers, Vogue, 14 Nov. 2023

Beyond the multicolored shops, red brick streets packed with performers, and quays filled with sailboats that draw visitors to the town of Kinsale in County Cork, Ireland, is a memorial to a tragedy that occurred an ocean away. —Claire Fahy, BostonGlobe.com, 11 Sep. 2023

Similar scenes play out along local quays and public parks. —Youcef Bounab, Chicago Tribune, 23 July 2023

Reflection on the quays of Sète, original silver print, 1950. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 14 July 2023

Word History

Etymology

Middle English keye, kaye, borrowed from Anglo-French kay, caye, keye, corresponding to Middle French (Picardy) kay, going back to Gaulish *kagi̯o- (late Gaulish caio) "enclosure," going back to Celtic — more at haw entry 1

Note: The spelling quay, first appearing in the sixteenth century, follows modern French. As noted by the Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, the expected outcome of Middle English keye would be /keɪ/ in Modern English. — The form caio, glossed "breialo sive bigardio" (meaning perhaps "demarcated field or wood"), is found in Endlicher's Glossary, a collection of words dated in its earliest version to the eighth century that were taken by the glossator to be of Gaulish origin (and hence entitled "De nominibus Gallicis"). Compare also cai, glossed cancelli "latticed barrier" in Late Latin texts (see Thesaurus linguae Latinae s.v.). In Normandy and Picardy, from where kay spread to France generally, the original reference was perhaps to a barrier demarcating part of a seashore or river bank that was built up with stone or earth to make a loading area for boats. The corresponding word in Poitou was chai.

First Known Use

1561, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

quay

noun

ˈkē  ˈk(w)ā 

: a structure built along the bank of a waterway for use as a landing place