Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ford

Ford (fōrd) , noun

[Anglo-Saxon ford; akin to German furt, Icelandic fjorer bay, and to English fare. r78. See Fare, v. i., and compare Frith arm of the sea.]

1.
A place in a river, or other water, where it may be passed by man or beast on foot, by wading.
He swam the Esk river where ford there was none. — Sir W. Scott
2.
A stream; a current.
With water of the ford Or of the clouds. — Spenser
Permit my ghost to pass the Stygian ford. — Dryden

Ford , transitive verb

To pass or cross, as a river or other water, by wading; to wade through.
His last section, which is no deep one, remains only to be forted. — Milton