barge
part of speech
noun (a barge, barges); verb (barge, barges, barged, barging — barge in, barge into, barge past)
meaning for a pupil
1) A barge is a long boat with a flat bottom used to carry heavy loads on rivers and canals. tree →
2) (informal verb) To barge means to push roughly or rudely past people or into a place. tree →
3) To barge in means to interrupt or enter rudely without being asked. tree →
sense in the lessons
In geography and history lessons barges carry coal, sand or goods along canals and rivers; maths problems may ask how many tonnes a barge carries. In stories and manners lessons barging in is rude. Phrases: «barge in», «barge into», «barge past», «a canal barge».
examples
- A barge carried sand along the canal. tree →
- The barge can carry 300 tonnes; how many trips for 1,200 tonnes? tree →
- Some families live on narrow barges. tree →
- Don't barge in while I'm on the phone! tree →
- He barged past me in the queue. tree →
- The dog barged into the kitchen. tree →
- Here a splendid barge was waiting for them, and from it they watched all sorts of races and feats of swimming and diving. tree →
note
Countable noun: a barge, barges. The verb is informal and shows rude, clumsy movement. In the UK a narrow canal boat is a «narrowboat», though people often call it a barge.
In the corpora
- A horse comes along the tow-path pulling a barge, steered by a big stout woman in a sun-bonnet.
- Toad swims to the bank, the wet cotton gown dragging at him, and runs after the barge wanting revenge.
- Toad shouts: «You common, low, fat barge-woman! ...
- And in my nice clean barge, too!»
- Barging in and bossing people about makes others want you out; fitting in first works better.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «barge» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.