portage

[ pawr-tij, pohr-, or, for 2, 3, 5, 6, pawr-tahzh ]
See synonyms for portage on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of carrying; carriage.

  2. the carrying of boats, goods, etc., overland from one navigable water to another.

  1. the route over which this is done.

  2. the cost of carriage.

verb (used without object),por·taged, por·tag·ing.
  1. to make a portage: On this stretch of the river, we have to portage for a mile.

verb (used with object),por·taged, por·tag·ing.
  1. to carry (something) over a portage; make a portage with: We portaged our canoe around the rapids.

Origin of portage

1
1375–1425; late Middle English <Middle French; see port5, -age

Words Nearby portage

Other definitions for Portage (2 of 2)

Portage
[ pawr-tij, pohr- ]

noun
  1. a city in SW Michigan.

  2. a town in NW Indiana.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use portage in a sentence

  • Right then we switched to rock portage and charged back down the beach to get the IBS into the water.

    Navy Seal Training: The Start of Hell Week | Marcus Luttrell, Patrick Robinson | May 8, 2011 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • It would have been less labor to have tied the beasts, put them into the boat, and hauled it across the portage.

  • It was three o'clock in the afternoon when they commenced their preparations for making this extraordinary portage.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • Making up their bundles as usual, they commenced a struggle with the intricacies and obstacles of the portage.

    Overland | John William De Forest
  • The place of transit from one river to the other was known for years as the portage.

    'Three Score Years and Ten' | Charlotte Ouisconsin Van Cleve
  • The portage was a long mile but the girls were accustomed to hiking and took it at a brisk pace.

    The Missing Formula | Mildred A. Wirt, AKA Ann Wirt

British Dictionary definitions for portage

portage

/ (ˈpɔːtɪdʒ, French pɔrtaʒ) /


noun
  1. the act of carrying; transport

  2. the cost of carrying or transporting

  1. the act or process of transporting boats, supplies, etc, overland between navigable waterways

  2. the route overland used for such transport

verb
  1. to transport (boats, supplies, etc) overland between navigable waterways

Origin of portage

1
C15: from French, from Old French porter to carry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012