portage

See also: Portage

English

Etymology

From Middle English portage, borrowed from Old French portage, from Late Latin portāticum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/

Noun

portage (countable and uncountable, plural portages)

1. An act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.
2. The route used for such carrying.
3. A charge made for carrying something.
   • 1661, John Fell, The life of the most learned, reverend, and pious Dr. H. Hammond

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

4. Carrying capacity; tonnage.
   • 1589, Richard Hakluyt, The Principall Navigations, Voiages, and Discoveries of the English Nation, […], London: […] George Bishop and Ralph Newberie, deputies to Christopher Barker, […], →OCLC:

     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 […]

5. The wages paid to a sailor when in port, or for a voyage.
6. A porthole.
   • 1599, 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]:

     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.

Derived terms

• Portage County
• Portage la Prairie

Translations

route used for portage

• German: Portage (de) f, Umtragung f, Umtragungsstrecke f
• Maori: tōanga waka
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: båtdrag n

• Russian: волок (ru) (volok)
• Swedish: dragställe n

Verb

portage (third-person singular simple present portages, present participle portaging, simple past and past participle portaged)

1. (nautical) To carry a boat overland

See also

• porterage

Anagrams

• potager, top gear

Old French

Etymology

At least in sense 2, from Late Latin portāticum. By surface analysis, porte +‎ -age.

Noun

portage m (oblique plural portages, nominative singular portages, nominative plural portage)

1. act of carrying a heavy load
2. tax paid for the transport of goods
3. tonnage (carrying capacity of a ship)

Descendants

• → English: portage
• → Galician: portaxe
• → Italian: portaggio
• → Portuguese: portagem
• → Spanish: portaje

References

• portage in Anglo-Norman Dictionary, Aberystwyth University, 2022