portage
noun
the act of carrying; carriage.
portage
1 American
[pawr-tij, pohr-, pawr-tahzh]
/ ˈpɔr tɪdʒ, ˈpoʊr-, pɔrˈtɑʒ /
noun
portages
plural
-
the act of carrying; carriage.
-
the carrying of boats, goods, etc., overland from one navigable water to another.
-
the route over which this is done.
-
the cost of carriage.
verb (used without object)
portages,
present (3rd person singular)
portaged,
past participle, past
portaging
present participle
verb (used with object)
portages,
present (3rd person singular)
portaged,
past participle, past
portaging
present participle
Portage
2
American
[pawr-tij, pohr-]
/ ˈpɔr tɪdʒ, ˈpoʊr- /
noun
-
a city in SW Michigan.
-
a town in NW Indiana.
portage
British
/ pɔrtaʒ, ˈpɔːtɪdʒ /
noun
-
the act of carrying; transport
-
the cost of carrying or transporting
-
the act or process of transporting boats, supplies, etc, overland between navigable waterways
-
the route overland used for such transport
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
portagesimple
-
portagessimple
-
have portagedperfect
-
has portagedperfect
-
am portagingprogressive
-
are portagingprogressive
-
is portagingprogressive
-
have been portagingperfect progressive
-
has been portagingperfect progressive
Past
-
portagedsimple
-
had portagedperfect
-
was portagingprogressive
-
were portagingprogressive
-
had been portagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of portage
1375–1425; late Middle English < Middle French; see port 5, -age
Explanation
Portage is a payment, usually to the captain or owner of a boat, for carrying cargo. A portage is also a bridge between two waterways. A business that sells goods to many parts of the world will probably pay portage at some point: a fee to a boat for carrying cargo. This is a bit of an old-fashioned word, and it mainly applies to boats (which you can remember from the word port: a place where boats dock). Also, a portage is a bridge-like track built on land that links waterways such as rivers. The purpose of that portage is also to transport goods.
Vocabulary lists containing portage
Tolkien Reading Day, List 5
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The Boys in the Boat
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Orphan Train
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Portage Police Department was dispatched to an Applebee’s located at 6211 US Highway 6 around 8:38 p.m. on Aug. 2.
From Salon • Aug. 20, 2024
The blaze in Cranberry Portage is believed to have started after a lightning strike, CBC News, external reported.
From BBC • May 14, 2024
When he estimates where the risk of an Alaskan lake tsunami is highest, Portage Lake "is pretty much at the top of my list," Higman said.
From Science Daily • May 6, 2024
One example is when and how they would replace the aging 520 bridges across Portage Bay in Seattle.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 23, 2024
On long, lazy weekend afternoons, afternoons when the air was translucent and still and full of the smell of burning leaves, they rented canoes again and paddled around in Portage Bay.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
