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portage

 - 6 dictionary results

por⋅tage

  [pawr-tij, pohr-, or, for 2, 3, 5, 6, pawr-tahzh] noun, verb, -taged, -tag⋅ing.
Use portage in a Sentence
–noun
1. the act of carrying; carriage.
2. the carrying of boats, goods, etc., overland from one navigable water to another.
3. the route over which this is done.
4. the cost of carriage.
–verb (used without object)
5. to make a portage: On this stretch of the river, we have to portage for a mile.
–verb (used with object)
6. to carry (something) over a portage; make a portage with: We portaged our canoe around the rapids.
Origin:
1375–1425; late ME < MF; see port 5 , -age

Por⋅tage

  [pawr-tij, pohr-]
–noun
1. a city in SW Michigan. 38,157.
2. a town in NW Indiana. 27,409.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To portage
port·age   (pôr'tĭj, pōr'-, pôr-täzh')   
n.  

    1. The act or an instance of carrying.

    2. A charge for carrying.

    3. The carrying of boats and supplies overland between two waterways or around an obstacle to navigation.

    4. A track or route used for such carrying.

  2. Nautical

    1. The carrying of boats and supplies overland between two waterways or around an obstacle to navigation.

    2. A track or route used for such carrying.

tr. & intr.v.   port·aged, port·ag·ing, port·ag·es Nautical
To transport or travel by portage: canoed and portaged the goods; portaging around the rapids.

[Middle English, from Old French, from porter, to carry, from Latin portāre; see per-2 in Indo-European roots.]
Por·tage   (pôr'tĭj, pōr'-)   
A city of southwest Michigan south of Kalamazoo. It is a manufacturing center. Population: 45,200.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

portage 
1423, "action of carrying," from O.Fr. portage "tax paid on entering a town," from porter "to carry," from L. portare "to carry" (see port (1)). Sense of "carrying of boats from one navigable water to another" is from 1698, reinforced in Canadian Fr.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia

Portage

city, seat (1851) of Columbia county, south-central Wisconsin, U.S. It lies along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, about 35 miles (55 km) north of Madison. The 1.5-mile (2.5-km) overland portage there between the Wisconsin and Fox rivers was first crossed by the French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette in 1673; the route was vital in linking the Great Lakes with the Mississippi River. The Portage Canal was built between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers in the 1850s, but it faced competition from a railroad that came through the town in 1857; the canal fell into disuse and was closed to navigation in 1951. In 1792 a fur-trading post was established, and Fort Winnebago was built in 1828 at the site when conflict with the Ho-Chunk Nation (Winnebago) Indians threatened; its Surgeon's Quarters have been restored as a museum. The Historic Indian Agency House (1832) of John Kinzie, agent to the Winnebago, has also been restored.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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