A barge is a flat-bottomed boat with a wide, rectangular shape, designed to carry heavy cargo on rivers and canals. Unlike sleek sailboats or speedboats, barges look almost like floating platforms. Many barges have no engines of their own, so tugboats or towboats push or pull them through the water. You might see barges carrying coal, grain, steel, or shipping containers, stacked high with goods moving slowly along major waterways like the Mississippi River.

Barges are incredibly efficient for moving large, heavy loads. A single barge can carry as much cargo as dozens of trucks or several train cars, which makes them useful for transporting bulk materials that don't need to arrive quickly. The flat bottom lets them navigate shallow rivers and canals where deeper-hulled ships couldn't go.

The word also works as a verb meaning to push your way rudely through a crowd or into a space. When someone barges into a room without knocking, or barges to the front of a line, they're moving forward without consideration for others. You might say, “Don't just barge in!” to someone who interrupts a private conversation. This meaning captures the heavy, forceful way a barge moves through water: direct, unstoppable, and not particularly graceful.