barge

[bahrj]

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noun

a capacious, flat-bottomed vessel, usually intended to be pushed or towed, for transporting freight or passengers; lighter.

a vessel of state used in pageants: elegantly decorated barges on the Grand Canal in Venice.

Navy. a boat reserved for a flag officer.

a boat that is heavier and wider than a shell, often used in racing as a training boat.

New England (chiefly Older Use ). a large, horse-drawn coach or, sometimes, a bus.

verb (used without object), barged, barg·ing.

to move clumsily; bump into things; collide: to barge through a crowd.

to move in the slow, heavy manner of a barge.

verb (used with object), barged, barg·ing.

to carry or transport by barge: Coal and ore had been barged down the Ohio to the Mississippi.

Verb Phrases

barge in, to intrude, especially rudely: I hated to barge in without an invitation.

barge into,

Also barge in on.to force oneself upon, especially rudely; interfere in: to barge into a conversation.
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. 2019

Related Words for barged

plummet, skip, dive, drop, bound, bounce, surge, take, hop, fall, vault, top, slog, shuffle, trudge, waddle, plod, trundle, blow, break

Examples from the Web for barged

Contemporary Examples of barged

Charlie Rangel barged into his office on the seventh floor of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
Charlie Rangel on Immigration, Pope Francis & His Successor
David Freedlander
August 2, 2013
Another time he showed up at The Village Voice, barged in, and gave writer Joe Conason a nice old knuckle sandwich.
Page Six's Biggest Feuds
Jacob Bernstein
October 8, 2010

Historical Examples of barged

Eagerly they scrambled into their outfits, then barged out into the night.
A Yankee Flier Over Berlin
Al Avery
Some one barged into him, surged into him, from the rear, causing him to stumble.
Tutors' Lane
Wilmarth Lewis
Mel had come in late for his examination that year and barged into the wrong room.
The Memory of Mars
Raymond F. Jones
They barged into the quarters of the flight officers and looked around.
A Yankee Flier in Italy
Rutherford G. Montgomery
Stan barged into the room and reported as a part of Moon Flight.
A Yankee Flier with the R.A.F.
Rutherford G. Montgomery

British Dictionary definitions for barged

barge

noun

a vessel, usually flat-bottomed and with or without its own power, used for transporting freight, esp on canals

a vessel, often decorated, used in pageants, for state occasions, etc

navy a boat allocated to a flag officer, used esp for ceremonial occasions and often carried on board his flagship

jocular, derogatory any vessel, esp an old or clumsy one

Australian informal a heavy or cumbersome surfboard

verb

(intr foll by into) informal to bump (into)

(tr) informal to push (someone or one's way) violently

(intr; foll by into or in) informal to interrupt rudely or clumsilyto barge into a conversation

(tr) sailing to bear down on (another boat or boats) at the start of a race

(tr) to transport by barge

(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 barged

barge

"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

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.