Dictionary

portage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /pɔːrˈtɑːʒ/ (Canada)
• /ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English portage, borrowed from Middle French portage, from Old French portage, from Early Medieval Latin portāticum. By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -age.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) An act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.
2. (countable, uncountable) The route used for such carrying.
3. (countable, uncountable) A charge made for carrying something.
   • gaining thereby the charge of portage; was a great benefit to them 1661, John Fell, The life of the most learned, reverend, and pious Dr. H. Hammond:
4. (countable, uncountable) Carrying capacity; tonnage.
   • Onely the shippe that came thither payde a small thing according to her portage, aud euery yeere in the port of Orisa were laden fiue and twentie or thirtie ships great and smal with ryce and diuers sortes of fine white bumbaste cloth[…] 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:
5. (countable, uncountable) The wages paid to a sailor when in port, or for a voyage.
6. (countable, uncountable) A porthole.
   • Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Let pry through the portage of the head Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it As fearfully as doth a galled rock O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

Forms

Deriveds

Portage County · Portage Lake · Portage la Prairie · Cranberry Portage · portage pack

Translations (11)

sv dragställe (route used for portage) · gd tairbeart (route used for portage) · de Umtragungsstrecke (route used for portage) · oj onigam (route used for portage) · fro portage (route used for portage) · de Umtragung (route used for portage) · de Portage (route used for portage) · mi tōanga waka (route used for portage) · fr portage (route used for portage) · no båtdrag (route used for portage) · ru во́лок (route used for portage)

portage en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /pɔːrˈtɑːʒ/ (Canada)
• /ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Middle English portage, borrowed from Middle French portage, from Old French portage, from Early Medieval Latin portāticum. By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -age.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To carry a boat overland.
   • Two months have now elapsed since the work was first begun, viz: from the 20th of last December to the 20th instant, fully one month of which has been occupied in exploring, and the remainder in camping, portageing and measuring; […] 1858 February 22, G. F. Baillargé, “I.”, in General Report of the Commissioners of Public Works, for the Year Ending 31st December, 1857: Furnished in Compliance with the Provisions of the Act, 9 Vict. Cap. 7, Toronto, Ont.: John Lovell, […], pages 74–75:
   • Those who haven’t experienced an overnight canoe trip can’t imagine the joys, tensions and learning packed into three days of canoeing, portageing, cooking meals in the open and sleeping under the stars. 1996, Edward Mann, “Camp Counsellor”, in A Mann for All Seasons: A Memoir, Toronto, Ont.: Lugus Publications, →ISBN, page 28:
   • You’d better leave it to him to decide whether it’s worth lumping a canoe along and portageing. 1958, Hammond Innes, “The Labrador Railway”, in The Land God Gave to Cain: A Novel of the Labrador, London: Collins […], page 171:

Forms

Relateds

porterage