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barge

[bahrj]
See more synonyms for barge on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a capacious, flat-bottomed vessel, usually intended to be pushed or towed, for transporting freight or passengers; lighter.
  2. a vessel of state used in pageants: elegantly decorated barges on the Grand Canal in Venice.
  3. Navy. a boat reserved for a flag officer.
  4. a boat that is heavier and wider than a shell, often used in racing as a training boat.
  5. New England (chiefly Older Use ). a large, horse-drawn coach or, sometimes, a bus.
verb (used without object), barged, barg·ing.
  1. to move clumsily; bump into things; collide: to barge through a crowd.
  2. to move in the slow, heavy manner of a barge.
verb (used with object), barged, barg·ing.
  1. to carry or transport by barge: Coal and ore had been barged down the Ohio to the Mississippi.
Verb Phrases
  1. barge in, to intrude, especially rudely: I hated to barge in without an invitation.
  2. barge into,
    1. Also barge in on.to force oneself upon, especially rudely; interfere in: to barge into a conversation.
    2. to bump into; collide with: He started to run away and barged into a passer-by.

Origin of barge

1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French, perhaps < Latin *bārica; see bark3
Can be confusedbarge boat canoe cruise ship sailboat ship yacht
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for barge in

collide, infringe, interrupt, intrude, push, shove, stumble
British Dictionary definitions for barge in

barge

noun
  1. a vessel, usually flat-bottomed and with or without its own power, used for transporting freight, esp on canals
  2. a vessel, often decorated, used in pageants, for state occasions, etc
  3. navy a boat allocated to a flag officer, used esp for ceremonial occasions and often carried on board his flagship
  4. jocular, derogatory any vessel, esp an old or clumsy one
  5. Australian informal a heavy or cumbersome surfboard
verb
  1. (intr foll by into) informal to bump (into)
  2. (tr) informal to push (someone or one's way) violently
  3. (intr; foll by into or in) informal to interrupt rudely or clumsilyto barge into a conversation
  4. (tr) sailing to bear down on (another boat or boats) at the start of a race
  5. (tr) to transport by barge
  6. (intr) informal to move slowly or clumsily

Word Origin for barge

C13: from Old French, from Medieval Latin barga, probably from Late Latin barca a small boat; see barque
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
Word Origin and History for barge in

barge

v.

"to journey by barge," 1590s, from barge (n.). The form barge into and the sense "crash heavily into," in reference to the rough handling of barges, dates from 1830s, American English. Related: Barged; barging.

barge

n.

c.1300, "small seagoing vessel with sails," from Old French barge, Old Provençal barca, from Medieval Latin barga, perhaps from Celtic, or perhaps from Latin *barica, from Greek baris "Egyptian boat," from Coptic bari "small boat." Meaning "flat-bottomed freight boat" dates from late 15c.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with barge in

barge in

Enter rudely or abruptly, intrude. For example, Her mother never knocks but just barges in. The term is also put as barge into or barge in on to mean interrupt, as in Who asked you to barge into our conversation? These phrases use to barge in the sense of “bump into” or “knock against,” which may allude to the propensity of these clumsy vessels to collide with other craft. [Late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.