portage
/ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Canada/pɔːrˈtɑːʒ/
portage noun: an act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.
Noun
portage (countable and uncountable, plural portages)
- An act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.
- The route used for such carrying.
- A charge made for carrying something.
- gaining thereby the charge of portage; was a great benefit to them1661, John Fell, The life of the most learned, reverend, and pious Dr. H. Hammond
- 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
- The wages paid to a sailor when in port, or for a voyage.
- 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...
- Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Verb
portage (third-person singular simple present portages, present participle portaging, simple past and past participle portaged)
- 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...
- 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
Proper noun capitalized: Portage
Portage
- A community in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
- A settlement in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
- A ghost town and former settlement in Alaska, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1964.
- A city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana.
- A village in the town of Portage Lake, Aroostook County, Maine.
- A city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
- A town in Livingston County, New York.
- A village in Wood County, Ohio.
- A home rule borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
- A small town in Box Elder County, Utah, named after Portage County in Ohio.
- A city, the county seat of Columbia County, Wisconsin.
- A number of townships in the United States, listed under Portage Township.
- A small settlement in the Marlborough Sounds, Marlborough, New Zealand.
portage meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
portage in Hindi
- पोर्टेज, पोर्टेज़
portage in Tamil
- எடுத்துச்செல்லுதல், கொண்டுபோவதற்குப் பிடிக்குஞ் செலவு
portage in Marathi
- पोर्टेज, पोर्टॅज, पोर्टेज करण्यासाठी
portage in Urdu
- پورٹیج, پورٹج, پورٹیج کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
- portage in Bengali
- পোর্টেজ, পোর্টেজ করতে
- portage in Telugu
- పోర్టేజ్, పోర్టెజ్, పోర్టేజ్ చేయడానికి
- portage in Malayalam
- പോർട്ടേജ്, പോർടേജ്, പോർട്ടേജ് ചെയ്യാൻ
- portage in Kannada
- ಪೋರ್ಟೆಜ್, ಪೋರ್ಟೇಜ್, ಪೋರ್ಟೆಜ್ಗೆ
- portage in Punjabi
- ਪੋਰਟੇਜ, ਪੋਰਟੇਜ਼, ਪੋਰਟੇਜ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
- portage in Gujarati
- પોર્ટેજ, પોર્ટેજી, પોર્ટેજ કરવા માટે
- portage in Odia
- ପୋର୍ଟେଜ୍, ପୋର୍ଟେଜ
- portage in Nepali
- पोर्टेज, पोर्टेजी, पोर्टेग
Forms of portage
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | portages |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | portages |
| present participle | portaging |
| past participle | portaged |
| past | portaged |
Origin of portage
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.
Words formed from portage
Phrases with portage
Questions about portage
- What does portage mean?
- Portage means an act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.
- What is portage in Hindi?
- Portage in Hindi is पोर्टेज, पोर्टेज़. See Portage meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is portage?
- Portage can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce portage?
- Portage is pronounced /ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/.
- What is the plural of portage?
- The plural of portage is portages.
Words near portage in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: portage (page history and authors); Portage (page history and authors); portage (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); portage (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); portage (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-portage.wav.
Cite this entry: “portage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/portage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.