barge

1 of 2

noun

: any of various boats: such as
a
: a roomy usually flat-bottomed boat used chiefly for the transport of goods on inland waterways and usually propelled by towing
b
: a large motorboat supplied to the flag officer of a flagship
c
: a roomy pleasure boat
especially : a boat of state elegantly furnished and decorated

barge

2 of 2

verb

barged; barging

transitive verb

: to carry by barge

intransitive verb

1
: to move ponderously or clumsily
2
: to thrust oneself heedlessly or unceremoniously
barged into the meeting

Examples of barge in a Sentence

Verb He came rushing down the stairs, barging into the crowd of people at the bottom. She barged through the door without even knocking.
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Noun
The pieces were lifted by a crane and placed onto a barge with other parts recovered from the flight that took off from Wichita, Kansas, Wednesday for Washington's Reagan National Airport with 60 passengers and four crew members on board. Alex Sundby, CBS News, 4 Feb. 2025 The key objective of the New Glenn's first uncrewed spaceflight last month was for the second stage of the vehicle to safely reach orbit before Blue Origin attempted to land the rocket booster, or first stage, on a barge several hundred miles offshore in the Atlantic. Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2025
Verb
In January, students barged into an Israeli history class and distributed flyers with antisemitic and hateful rhetoric. Rachel Wolf, Fox News, 8 Mar. 2025 Two of those snitches, Russo and Rubino, described the fake raid in detail, how the then-detective and two other men barged into the backroom parlor, smashed the screen of a Joker Poker machine, and left without making a single arrest or seizing a single piece of evidence. John Annese, New York Daily News, 5 Mar. 2025 See All Example Sentences for barge

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin barca

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1649, in the meaning defined at transitive sense

Time Traveler
The first known use of barge was in the 13th century

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Barge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/barge. Accessed 4 Apr. 2025.

Kids Definition

barge

1 of 2 noun
: a broad flat-bottomed boat that is usually towed and used chiefly to transport goods in harbors and on rivers and canals

barge

2 of 2 verb
barged; barging
1
: to carry by barge
2
: to move or push oneself clumsily or rudely
barged right in

More from Merriam-Webster on barge

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