PORTAGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does portage mean? 

• PORTAGE (noun)
  The noun PORTAGE has 3 senses:

1. the cost of carrying or transporting

2. overland track between navigable waterways

3. carrying boats and supplies overland

  Familiarity information: PORTAGE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PORTAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The cost of carrying or transporting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

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

cost (the total spent for goods or services including money and time and labor)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Overland track between navigable waterways

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

cart track; cartroad; track (any road or path affording passage especially a rough one)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Carrying boats and supplies overland

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

carry (the act of carrying something)

Derivation:

port (carry, bear, convey, or bring)

 Context examples 

Twice we came across rapids, and in each case made a portage of half a mile or so to avoid them.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)