carry

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈkær.i/, US /ˈker.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English carien,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman carier (“to transport in a vehicle”), also Old North French carier,^[4][2] a variant of Old French charier (modern charrier “to cart, drag”),^[5][2] from Gallo-Romance *carrizāre,^[2][4] from Latin carrus (“wagon”), carrum,^[2][3] originally a two-wheeled Celtic war chariot,^[4] from Gaulish karros,^[4] the source of car.^[2][3] The spelling with two r's was established by the early 1600s.^[2] It is a doublet of charge.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To convey, originally by cart or wagon, then in any vehicle, by ship or on horseback: about 1320.^[6] Barnhart's first example is from before 1338, in Mannyng's Chronicle of England.^[2] To bear from place to place by bodily effort is from about 1340–70.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From moving a load the word passed to many figurative uses.^[6] The sense “bear up, support” is from the 1560s,^[4] “to take by force, gain by effort” and “to conduct, manage” from the 1580s,^[4] and “to win, bring to success” from the 1610s;^[4] of elections it is American English from 1848.^[4] To keep goods in stock is from 1848,^[4] and to carry a number to the next column in arithmetic is another later sense.^[7][4] The noun first meant a vehicle, a cart or barrow (1605, still Scottish and northern dialect),^[6][8] and later the range of a gun or ball (1858).^[6][3] A portage between rivers is American and Canadian from 1860,^[6] and a carry in American football is from 1949.^[4] Carrier is from before 1398.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1320 – to convey in a vehicle.^[6]
• c. 1340–70 – to bear by bodily effort.^[6]
• before 1398 – carrier.^[2]
• 1560s – to bear up, support.^[4]
• 1580s – to take by force; to manage.^[4]
• 1605 – noun, a vehicle.^[6][2]
• 1610s – to win, carry the day.^[4]
• 1848 – to win an election; to keep in stock.^[4]
• 1858 – noun, the range of a gun.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To hold or support while moving; to bear.
2. To take from one place to another; to transport or transmit.
3. To have with one; to keep in stock: the shop carries spare parts.
4. To support the weight of; to bear responsibility for.
5. To win or secure, as a vote or an election: the motion was carried.
6. To be pregnant with.
7. To transfer a digit to the next column in addition.
8. Of a sound or missile, to reach a distance: his voice carried.

Noun

1. The range of a gun or of a thrown or struck ball.
2. A portage between rivers.
3. In American football, a run with the ball.

Word family

• carriable
• carryback
• carryforward
• miscarry
• recarry
• carry-out
• carrier
• carrycot

Related words

• car
• cart
• charge
• carriage
• career
• cargo
• chariot
• current

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press