portage
1 Americannoun
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the act of carrying; carriage.
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the carrying of boats, goods, etc., overland from one navigable water to another.
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the route over which this is done.
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the cost of carriage.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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a city in SW Michigan.
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a town in NW Indiana.
noun
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the act of carrying; transport
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the cost of carrying or transporting
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the act or process of transporting boats, supplies, etc, overland between navigable waterways
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the route overland used for such transport
verb
Etymology
Origin of portage
1375–1425; late Middle English < Middle French; port 5, -age
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.
Exploiting a series of portages linking Lake Michigan and local rivers, they paddled their canoes from Canada’s Atlantic shore to the Gulf of Mexico and as far west as the Rocky Mountains.
Yates said he came up with the idea of a marathon portage to raise awareness about the lack of water in this part of the river, and invited several friends and acquaintances to join him.
From Los Angeles Times
Superior National Forest officials had closed trails, campsites, portages and bodies of water in the area, to assist in the search.
From Seattle Times
This was an important historical spot for the Coast Salish peoples as a canoe portage between Lake Washington and Lake Union, before the Montlake Cut was dug to unite the two water bodies.
From Seattle Times
Although the men didn’t want to, they knew that they had to stop and build another portage.
From Literature
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.
