Definition of "portage" [port•age•por•tage]

• The act or an instance of carrying. (noun)
• A charge for carrying. (noun)
• Nautical The carrying of boats and supplies overland between two waterways or around an obstacle to navigation. (noun)
• Nautical A track or route used for such carrying. (noun)
• Nautical To transport or travel by portage: canoed and portaged the goods; portaging around the rapids. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The reason for having children, of course, is so that you can express yourself through their "portage"--and a cargo bike has way more smug-appeal than a rideable stroller:"
• "A portage is a place between lakes and rivers where the waters become so shallow or rapid that they cannot be navigated, and the boats have to be lifted ashore and carried overland until it is possible to take to the water again."
• "In this, as in every other part of their territories, the Company use boats for the transport of property; but by a very judicious arrangement, much time and labour are saved at this portage, which is said to be twelve miles in length."