Library / English Dictionary

HARBOR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A place of refuge and comfort and security

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("harbor" is a kind of...):

asylum; refuge; sanctuary (a shelter from danger or hardship)

Derivation:

harbor (secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A sheltered port where ships can take on or discharge cargo

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour; haven; seaport

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("harbor" is a kind of...):

port (a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country)

Meronyms (parts of "harbor"):

dock; dockage; docking facility (landing in a harbor next to a pier where ships are loaded and unloaded or repaired; may have gates to let water in or out)

landing; landing place (structure providing a place where boats can land people or goods)

anchorage; anchorage ground (place for vessels to anchor)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "harbor"):

coaling station (a seaport where ships can take on supplies of coal)

port of call (any port where a ship stops except its home port)

Instance hyponyms:

Caesarea (an ancient seaport in northwestern Israel; an important Roman city in ancient Palestine)

Pearl Harbor (a harbor on Oahu to the west of Honolulu; location of a United States naval base that was attacked by the Japanese on 7 Dec 1941)

Boston Harbor (the seaport at Boston)

Holonyms ("harbor" is a part of...):

seafront (the waterfront of a seaside town)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Maintain (a theory, thoughts, or feelings)

Example:

harbor a resentment

Synonyms:

entertain; harbor; harbour; hold; nurse

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "harbor" is one way to...):

experience; feel (undergo an emotional sensation or be in a particular state of mind)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Hold back a thought or feeling about

Example:

She is harboring a grudge against him

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour; shield

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "harbor" is one way to...):

conceal; hide (prevent from being seen or discovered)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Keep in one's possession; of animals

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "harbor" is one way to...):

hold on; keep (retain possession of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Secretly shelter (as of fugitives or criminals)

Synonyms:

harbor; harbour

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "harbor" is one way to...):

shelter (provide shelter for)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

harbor (a place of refuge and comfort and security)

harborage ((nautical) a place of refuge (as for a ship))

Credits

 Context examples: 

One key science finding in 2012 provided compelling support for the hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant frozen water and other volatile materials in its permanently shadowed polar craters.

(NASA Spacecraft Achieves Unprecedented Success Studying Mercury, NASA)

The main conclusion is that, if phosphine is detected in a nearby, rocky planet, that planet must be harboring life of some kind.

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Researchers previously observed that fat tissue harbors memory T cells in mice.

(Memory T cells shelter in bone marrow, boosting immunity in mice with restricted diets, National Institutes of Health)

Mars will provoke any resentments that any of your partners in love or business may have been harboring. 

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Derived by Strong (1921) from a cross between the Cold Spring harbor and Bagg Albino stocks.

(A/J Mouse, NCI Thesaurus)

Synergistically, GM-CSF (sargramostim) expressed by the oncolytic adenovirus may promote a cytotoxic T cell response against tumor cells harboring the oncolytic adenovirus, resulting in an immune-mediated tumor cell death.

(Oncolytic Adenovirus Encoding GM-CSF, NCI Thesaurus)

A class of viral vaccines based on adenovirus genome which was engineered to harbor gene of therapeutic interest, and were to be used in vaccination against cancers.

(Adenovirus Vaccine, NCI Thesaurus)

Individuals who harbor cancer-predisposing genes require fewer somatic mutations for transformation of a particular cell, thereby predisposing them to the development of cancer.

(Cancer-Predisposing Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

Might some of us, more than others, harbor Neanderthal-derived gene variants that may bias our brains toward trading sociability for visuospatial prowess – or vice versa?

(“Residual echo” of ancient humans in scans may hold clues to mental disorders, National Institutes of Health)

Then the city and the harbor of Yokohama, in a thousand pictures, began flashing before his eyes.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)