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.
See Examples For:
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 ● Jul. 6, 2025
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 ● Dec. 3, 2023
If you don’t need quite as much power and portage, Satechi sells a 66W three USB-C port charger for $55.
From The Verge ● Jan. 7, 2022
For most of the trip thereafter, the crew of Civil War veterans, trappers and frontiersmen would portage the major rapids.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 17, 2021
When Rondon arrived, he ordered Kermit to wait there while he and Lyra scouted from the river’s shoreline to determine if the rapids were passable or if a portage would need to be built.
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
Tearing down the eyesores “sparked a new energy and sense of pride,” said Wiseman, who lives in nearby Portage, Ind. ‘It was like a chain reaction.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
A customer dining at an Applebee’s in Portage, Indiana, was arrested following a “verbal disturbance” concerning the restaurant chain’s “All You Can Eat” deal, according to an arrest report obtained by Today.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2024
In Manitoba, about 500 people have been forced out of their homes in the remote northwestern community of Cranberry Portage ahead of a fire measuring more than 300 square kilometers.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024
"Our thoughts are with those affected by the tornado in Portage, Michigan, and we are grateful there were no serious injuries resulting from the damage to our facility," FedEx said in a statement.
From BBC ● May 7, 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
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.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025
The closure includes all land, water, trails, portages, campsites, canoe routes and wilderness entry points and is in place until Aug. 27.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 21, 2021
There was one industry that the new city would excel in, which did not require ships, portages, or much labor at all.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 19, 2017
Escaping civilization means lugging your gear — canoe on shoulders, gear on back, feet on trail — across dozens of winding portages between lakes.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2016
“The frequent bad rapids making so many portages necessary. Our position every day grows more serious; the food supply less.”
From "Death on the River of Doubt" by Samantha Seiple
Recognizing that he could rise no higher in Kiev, this ambitious, natural-born commander sailed and portaged down the river Dnieper, then crossed the Black Sea to Miklagard, the Big City, as the Scandinavians called Constantinople.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 21, 2021
In his seminal book, The Emerald Mile, author Kevin Fedarko estimated the crew ran 414 rapids and portaged or lined the boats through another hundred or so.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 17, 2021
Paul found a campsite on a rocky point and we dropped our gear and portaged into Argo Lake for a scenic four-mile loop.
From New York Times ● Oct. 21, 2016
They portaged about 15-20 yards and then paddled through a stretch of flooded timber.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 21, 2016
Another reported in 1797—the Washington—built at Erie, Pa., was bought by Canadians, portaged around the Falls and run on the British register from Queenston to Kingston as the Lady Washington.
From A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River by Barlow Cumberland
All went well up to day 13 of 16, when the group of rafters approached Lava Falls, “the gnarliest rapid I’ve ever navigated” and one you can’t avoid by portaging.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2023
“We were portaging, and Wynn said to me, ‘I can’t make it,’ ” he recalled.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 26, 2022
At any rate, traveling by kayak means always having the option of simply taking to land and portaging everything into a better channel.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2022
All day on Friday, workmen made this fifteen-minute trek, portaging necessities for the evening: armfuls of peonies, sewing machines swathed in muslin, inscrutable spiky objects in gold.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2015
Tiller and Florida had traveled the length of Hidden River and had spent the last two hours portaging into the Goochee River.
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
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.
