portage

CEFRB2

/ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The carrying of boats or goods over land between waterways.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A charge made for carrying something.

Examples

  • We have a few miles of portage.

  • gaining thereby the charge of portage; was a great benefit to them

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /pɔːrˈtɑːʒ/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. The route used for such carrying.

  2. An act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.

  3. Carrying capacity; tonnage.

More examples

In context

  • 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[…]

  • You’d better leave it to him to decide whether it’s worth lumping a canoe along and portageing.

  • 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.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The explorers had to carry their canoes over land between rivers, a difficult blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.