berth [E17th] When we give someone a wide berth, or stay away from them, we are using a nautical expression. Berth shares a root with *bear, ‘to carry’. Originally, in the early 17th century, it meant ‘sea room’, or space to turn or manoeuvre. It developed the sense ‘a ship’s allotted place at a wharf or dock’, and could also mean the place where seamen stowed their chests, then later the space where the sailors themselves slept.