BARGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does barge mean? 

• BARGE (noun)
  The noun BARGE has 1 sense:

1. a flatbottom boat for carrying heavy loads (especially on canals)

  Familiarity information: BARGE used as a noun is very rare.

• BARGE (verb)
  The verb BARGE has 2 senses:

1. push one's way

2. transport by barge on a body of water

  Familiarity information: BARGE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BARGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A flatbottom boat for carrying heavy loads (especially on canals)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

barge; flatboat; hoy; lighter

Hypernyms ("barge" is a kind of...):

boat (a small vessel for travel on water)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "barge"):

dredger (a barge (or a vessel resembling a barge) that is used for dredging)

houseboat (a barge that is designed and equipped for use as a dwelling)

pontoon ((nautical) a floating structure (as a flat-bottomed boat) that serves as a dock or to support a bridge)

scow (a barge carrying bulk materials in an open hold)

Norfolk wherry; wherry (sailing barge used especially in East Anglia)

Derivation:

barge (transport by barge on a body of water)

• BARGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they barge    ... he / she / it barges   
Past simple: barged   
Past participle: barged   
-ing form: barging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Push one's way

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

barge; push forward; thrust ahead

Context example:

she barged into the meeting room

Hypernyms (to "barge" is one way to...):

belt along; bucket along; cannonball along; hasten; hie; hotfoot; pelt along; race; rush; rush along; speed; step on it (move hurridly)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Also:

barge in (break into a conversation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Transport by barge on a body of water

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "barge" is one way to...):

send; ship; transport (transport commercially)

Domain category:

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

barge (a flatbottom boat for carrying heavy loads (especially on canals))

bargee (someone who operates a barge)

 Context examples 

To their right stretched the blue Garonne, running swiftly seawards, with boats and barges dotted over its broad bosom.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then suddenly we were on a broad bridge with a dark coffee-brown river flowing sulkily beneath it, and bluff-bowed barges drifting down upon its bosom.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

To barge blindly into it for want of a little common sense and patience isn't my notion of management.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The first-stage piece of the rocket landed on the ocean barge about eight minutes after liftoff.

(SpaceX Completes Successful Rocket Launch, VOA News)

There were some boats and barges astrand in the mud, and these enabled us to come within a few yards of her without being seen.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

At early dawn they passed across the broad, sluggish, reed-girt stream—men, horses, and baggage in the flat ferry barges—and so journeyed on through the fresh morning air past Exbury to Lepe.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a black barge, or some other kind of superannuated boat, not far off, high and dry on the ground, with an iron funnel sticking out of it for a chimney and smoking very cosily; but nothing else in the way of a habitation that was visible to me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

SpaceX sent the rocket into space Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and landed the first-stage mechanism successfully on a barge in the Pacific Ocean, an important step in development of reusable rocket components.

(SpaceX Completes Successful Rocket Launch, VOA News)

Horse after horse was slung by main force up from the barges, and after kicking and plunging in empty air was dropped into the deep waist of the yellow cog, where rows of stalls stood ready for their safe keeping.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The valley of ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on waiting trains can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)