barge

plural barges

1. nauticalA large flat-bottomed towed or self-propelled boat used mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods or bulk cargo.

   Not far from the station can be seen one of the old barges of the Nar Navigation Company which has become so much a part of the bank it has a tree growing in it.

   1958 June 28, Donald L. Gordon, “The Lynn & Dereham Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 396

2. A richly decorated ceremonial state vessel propelled by rowers for river processions.
3. A large flat-bottomed coastal trading vessel having a large spritsail and jib-headed topsail, a fore staysail and a very small mizen, and having leeboards instead of a keel.
4. One of the boats of a warship having fourteen oars
5. The wooden disk in which bread or biscuit is placed on a mess table.
6. UShistoricalA double-decked passenger or freight vessel, towed by a steamboat.
7. USdateddialectalhistoricalA large bus used for excursions.

present singular third person barges · participle present barging · participle past barged · past barged

1. To intrude or break through, particularly in an unwelcome or clumsy manner.

   I mean I couldn't sit there on that desk for the rest of my life, and besides, I was afraid my parents might barge in on me all of a sudden and I wanted to at least say hello to her before they did.

   1951 July 16, J[erome] D[avid] Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 209

   1 more example

   In making this extension, the Metropolitan also built a connection from Farringdon Street towards an overground railway that had just barged its way into the City from Kent. This railway was the London, Chatham & Dover.

   2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 52

2. transitiveTo push someone.

   The home side were professionally going about their business and were denied a spot-kick when Dunne clumsily barged Nani off the ball.

   2011 February 1, Mandeep Sanghera, “Man Utd 3 - 1 Aston Villa”, in BBC

plural Barges

1. A surname.