A perpendicular bank or mound or timber or stone and earth, raised on the shore of a harbor, or extending some distance into the water, for the convenience of lading and unlading ships and other vessels. This name is also given to the wider part of a canal, where boats lie while loading and unloading. The two longest wharfs in New England are at Boston and at New Haven. The latter is much the longest, extending into the harbor about three quarter of a mile.

To guard or secure by a wharf or firm wall of timber or stone; as, the western bank of the Connecticut is wharfed at Hartford, to prevent the river from wearing away the land.