Affreighten

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To arrange for the transportation of goods by ship or other means of transport
2. To charge a fee for carrying cargo on a vessel or vehicle
3. To provide the necessary resources and contracts for the shipment of merchandise

Etymology: Affreight is a shipping term that comes from Old French "afreter," meaning to hire a ship, from "a-" (to) and "fret," a word for freight or the hire of a vessel. Fret itself is generally traced to Middle Dutch or Middle Low German "vrecht," a term for the payment or cargo load of a ship, and it entered English in the Middle Ages through the maritime trade of the North Sea and Channel ports. The verb "affreight" came into English from the same French source, and its earlier sense was closer to chartering a whole vessel than to billing for cargo space. The modern meaning, charging for carriage, grew out of that same idea of hiring out a ship or its hold.