barrage

See also: bârrage

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from French barrage (“barrage, barrier”) c. 1859. Compare barrier.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹɑːʒ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /bəˈɹɑʒ/

  • Audio (US)

    (file)

  • Audio (New Jersey)

    (file)

• (anglicised) IPA^(key): /ˈbæɹɑːdʒ/, /ˈbæɹɪdʒ/
• Rhymes: (US) -ɑːʒ
• Hyphenation: bar‧rage

Noun

barrage (plural barrages)

1. An artificial obstruction, such as a dam, in a river designed to increase its depth or to divert its flow.

   Hyponym: dam

2. (military) A heavy curtain of artillery fire directed in front of one's own troops to screen and protect them.
   • 2014, Edward G. Lengel, A Companion to the Meuse-Argonne Campaign, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 350:

     The 75s of V Corps fired a standard rolling barrage, while the larger 155 mm and 8-inch pieces fired standing barrages 500 meters beyond the barrage line. For the rolling barrage, one battery in each battalion fired low, bursting shrapnel instead of the standard high explosive.

3. A concentrated discharge of projectile weapons.
   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion‎^[1]:

     Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within, […] most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.

4. (by extension) An overwhelming outburst of words, especially of criticism.
   • 2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist:

     Lesser lawyers who were vague in oral argument faced a barrage of sarcasm or, if he agreed with them, constant chiding to do better.

5. (fencing) A "next hit wins" contest to determine the winner of a bout in case of a tie.
6. Type of firework containing a mixture of firework types in one single-ignition package.

Derived terms

• balloon barrage
• barrage balloon
• barrage jamming
• rolling barrage
• tidal barrage

Translations

artificial obstruction, such as a dam, in a river

• Bulgarian: яз (bg) (jaz), бент (bg) (bent)
• Catalan: resclosa (ca) f, presa (ca) f
• Dutch: barrage (nl) f
• Finnish: pato (fi)
• French: barrage (fr) m
• German: Stauwehr (de) n
• Greek: φράγμα (el) n (frágma)
• Polish: grobla (pl) f, zapora (pl) f
• Portuguese: barragem (pt) f
• Romanian: baraj (ro) n
• Russian: загражде́ние (ru) n (zagraždénije) (barrier), плоти́на (ru) f (plotína) (dam), да́мба (ru) f (dámba) (dam)
• Spanish: presa (es) f, represa (es) f
• Swedish: fördämning (sv) c, damm (sv) c
• Ukrainian: гре́бля (uk) m (hréblja)
• Welsh: clawdd (cy) m

heavy curtain of artillery fire

• Bulgarian: преграден огън (pregraden ogǎn)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 彈幕／弹幕 (zh) (dànmù)

• Czech: baráž (cs) f
• Dutch: spervuur (nl) n
• Finnish: sulkutuli, suojatuli
• French: tir de barrage (fr) m
• German: Sperrfeuer (de) n
• Hindi: झड़ी (hi) f (jhaṛī)
• Italian: fuoco di sbarramento m
• Japanese: 弾幕 (だんまく, danmaku), 連弾 (ja) (rendan)
• Maori: waiwaipū
• Polish: ogień zaporowy m
• Russian: загради́тельный ого́нь m (zagradítelʹnyj ogónʹ), огнево́й вал m (ognevój val)
• Spanish: bombardeo (es) m
• Swedish: spärreld (sv) c

concentrated discharge of projectile weapons

• Dutch: spervuur (nl) n
• Finnish: keskitys (fi)
• Hindi: झड़ी (hi) f (jhaṛī)
• Japanese: 連弾 (ja) (rendan)
• Latin: coniectus m
• Maori: waiwaipū
• Portuguese: rajada (pt) f
• Russian: огнево́й вал m (ognevój val), загради́тельный ого́нь m (zagradítelʹnyj ogónʹ)
• Swedish: spärreld (sv) c

overwhelming outburst of words

• Dutch: spervuur (nl) n
• Finnish: vuodatus (fi), tykitys (fi), vuolas kritiikki
• Greek: μπαράζ (el) n (baráz)
• Hindi: झड़ी (hi) f (jhaṛī)
• Polish: lawina (pl) f
• Russian: пото́к (ru) m (potók) (слов), шквал (ru) m (škval)
• Swedish: störtflod c, ström (sv) c

"next hit wins" fight-off

• Bulgarian: бараж (bg) (baraž)
• Czech: baráž (cs) f
• Dutch: barrage (nl) f
• Greek: μπαράζ (el) n (baráz)
• Russian: барра́ж (ru) m (barráž)

type of firework

• Finnish: pata (fi)

Verb

barrage (third-person singular simple present barrages, present participle barraging, simple past and past participle barraged)

1. (transitive) To direct a barrage at.

   Synonym: bombard

   • 2020, Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half, Dialogue Books, page 259:

     Maybe now her daughter would stop barraging her with questions about her past.

References

• “barrage, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

• barrage (dam) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• barrage (artillery) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

From barrer +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.ʁaʒ/, /bɑ.ʁaʒ/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

barrage m (plural barrages)

1. dam, barrage
2. barrier, roadblock
3. (sports) playoff

Derived terms

• faire barrage à
• tir de barrage

Descendants

• → Polish: baraż
• → Portuguese: barragem
• → Turkish: baraj

Further reading

• “barrage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
• “barrage” in Cordial.
• “barrage” in Dictionnaire français en ligne Larousse.
• “barrage” in Le Dictionnaire.

Anagrams

• bagarre, bagarré