ford

Etymology

From Middle English ford, from Old English ford, from Proto-West Germanic *furdu, from Proto-Germanic *furduz, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”). Cognate with firth and fjord (via Old Norse), Low German Föörd, Dutch voord, German Furt, Norwegian and Danish fjord, and more distantly with English port (via Latin). See also forth and Persian پل.

noun

1. A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing.
2. A stream; a current.

verb

1. To cross a stream using a ford.
   He named that place, for it was near her dwelling, and on the road between Balerynie and Heriotside, which fords the Sker Burn. 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
   Since the time of Seyavi the deer have shifted their feeding ground across the valley at the beginning of deep snows, by way of the Black Rock, fording the river at Charley's Butte, and making straight for the mouth of the cañon that is the easiest going to the winter pastures on Waban. 1903, Mary Hunter Austin, The Land of Little Rain, Houghton Mifflin, pages 31–2
   Ratau drove with reckless authority through the quiet morning fires of his father's and forefathers' town and forded a river of goats on the road leading out of it. 1982, Nadine Gordimer, “A Hunting Accident”, in A Soldier's Embrace, Penguin, page 59
   2016, Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd, "EarthSky's meteor shower guide for 2016" in earthsky.org, http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide Some who witnessed the 1966 Leonid meteor storm said they felt as if they needed to grip the ground, so strong was the impression of Earth plowing along through space, fording the meteoroid stream.