barge
Americannoun
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a capacious, flat-bottomed vessel, usually intended to be pushed or towed, for transporting freight or passengers; lighter.
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a vessel of state used in pageants.
elegantly decorated barges on the Grand Canal in Venice.
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Navy. a boat reserved for a flag officer.
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a boat that is heavier and wider than a shell, often used in racing as a training boat.
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New England (chiefly Older Use). a large, horse-drawn coach or, sometimes, a bus.
verb (used without object)
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to move clumsily; bump into things; collide.
to barge through a crowd.
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to move in the slow, heavy manner of a barge.
verb (used with object)
verb phrase
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barge into
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Also barge in on. to force oneself upon, especially rudely; interfere in.
to barge into a conversation.
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to bump into; collide with.
He started to run away and barged into a passer-by.
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barge in to intrude, especially rudely.
I hated to barge in without an invitation.
noun
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a vessel, usually flat-bottomed and with or without its own power, used for transporting freight, esp on canals
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a vessel, often decorated, used in pageants, for state occasions, etc
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navy a boat allocated to a flag officer, used esp for ceremonial occasions and often carried on board his flagship
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humorous any vessel, esp an old or clumsy one
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informal a heavy or cumbersome surfboard
verb
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informal to bump (into)
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informal (tr) to push (someone or one's way) violently
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informal (intr; foll by into or in) to interrupt rudely or clumsily
to barge into a conversation
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(tr) sailing to bear down on (another boat or boats) at the start of a race
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(tr) to transport by barge
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informal (intr) to move slowly or clumsily
Etymology
Origin of barge
1250–1300; Middle English < Middle French, perhaps < Latin *bārica; bark 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hundreds of clippers, schooners, sloops, barges, ferries, and steamboats raised and lowered their flags to honor the Arctic heroes.
From Literature
Another reveals that Sidney has security cameras linked to her phone, yet she forgets about them to go barging into her dark house.
From Los Angeles Times
He’d been dreaming of a fancy ceremony for the Most Attractive Musk Ox Award, and just as he was about to receive the first place statuette, Duane came barging onstage.
From Literature
As the journalists interacted with the migrants, uniformed police barged in and detained the lawyer and four journalists.
When she is at prayer in their hotel room, he barges in to ask about a misplaced item.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
