Word.ws English Dictionary

not touch with a barge pole

not touch with a barge pole verb: to avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; (signifies a strong aversion).

Verb

not touch with a barge pole

  1. (UK, idiomatic) To avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; (signifies a strong aversion).

Forms of not touch with a barge pole

alternative formnot touch something with a ten-foot pole

Origin of not touch with a barge pole

Probably derived from the barge poles that bargemen used to fend off wharfs and other boats.

Questions about not touch with a barge pole

What does not touch with a barge pole mean?
Not touch with a barge pole means to avoid something at all costs; to refuse to associate with something; (signifies a strong aversion).
What part of speech is not touch with a barge pole?
Not touch with a barge pole is a verb.

Words near not touch with a barge pole in the dictionary

  1. not to put too fine a point on it
  2. not to put too fine a word on it
  3. not to say
  4. not to speak of
  5. not to worry
  6. not touch with a barge pole
  7. not touch with a ten-foot pole
  8. not up
  9. not want to do that
  10. not wanted on voyage
  11. not while pussy's a cat

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: not touch with a barge pole (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-not touch something with a barge pole.ogg.

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