portage

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portage^¹

/ˈpɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/
/pɔːrˈtɑːʒ/ Canada

Where it comes from

From Middle English portage, borrowed from Middle French portage, from Old French portage, from Early Medieval Latin portāticum. By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) + -age.

noun portages

countable, uncountable An act of carrying, especially the carrying of a boat overland between two waterways.
countable, uncountable The route used for such carrying.
countable, uncountable A charge made for carrying something. gaining thereby the charge of portage; was a great benefit to them
countable, uncountable Carrying capacity; tonnage. 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[…]
countable, uncountable The wages paid to a sailor when in port, or for a voyage.
countable, uncountable A porthole. 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.

verb portages · portaging · portaged

transitive To carry a boat overland. Two months have now elapsed since the work was first begun, viz: from the 20th of last December to the 20th instant, fully one month of which has been occupied in exploring, and the remainder in camping, portageing and measuring; […]

Portage^²

proper noun

A community in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
A settlement in Prince Edward Island, Canada.
A ghost town and former settlement in Alaska, which was destroyed by an earthquake in 1964.
A city in Portage Township, Porter County, Indiana.
A village in the town of Portage Lake, Aroostook County, Maine.
A city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.
A town in Livingston County, New York.
A village in Wood County, Ohio.
A home rule borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.
A small town in Box Elder County, Utah, named after Portage County in Ohio.
A city, the county seat of Columbia County, Wisconsin.
A number of townships in the United States, listed under Portage Township.
A small settlement in the Marlborough Sounds, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: carriage, carrier, street, carry, winnipeg, porterage, carrying, load-bearing, cartage, draggage, linehaul, loadout, trackage, conveyance, water carriage, burden

Translations

Every language

noun route used for portage

Français	portage
Deutsch	Portage, Umtragung, Umtragungsstrecke
Русский	во́лок vólok

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MLA

"portage." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/portage. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

portage. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/portage

Chicago

"portage." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/portage.

BibTeX

@misc{portage_2026,
  title = {portage},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/portage},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}