Etymologically
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barrage

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbæɹɑːʒ/[1]
  • US: /bəˈɹɑʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French barrage (“act of barring; barrier, dam”),[2][3][4][5] formed from barrer (“to bar, block”) and the suffix -age,[5][6][7] from barre (“bar”), from Old French barre, the source of English bar.[3][4][8] The Oxford Dictionary of English calls barrer of unknown origin.[9] The military sense comes from the French phrase tir de barrage (“barrier fire”) of the First World War,[4][3][8][7] fire intended to cut off the objective.[4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A dam or artificial bar placed in a river or watercourse to raise its level or divert it: Merriam-Webster dates it to 1837,[5] and the OED and Etymonline first record it in 1859, in W. H. Gregory's Egypt, of the dams on the Nile.[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word came into general use in the First World War, for a barrier of continuous artillery or machine-gun fire laid on an area to stop the enemy advancing or retreating, or to protect one's own troops; the OED's first quotation is a soldier's letter of 1916.[2][3][4] Weekley notes that it was adopted then for "curtain fire", and quotes a 1918 newspaper urging a "steady potato barrage".[10] The figurative sense, a rapid outpouring of many things at once, followed by 1917, in a letter of Wilfred Owen,[2] and the verb is recorded from 1917 too.[2][4] Later uses are a balloon barrage, with its captive balloons (1923), and in sport a heat to select contestants or a deciding jump-off (1955).[2] Merriam-Webster gives the two main senses different pronunciations: the dam with stress on the first syllable, the artillery fire with stress on the second, though British speakers usually stress the first syllable in both.[5]

Timeline

  • 1837 – a dam in a watercourse (Merriam-Webster).[5]
  • 1859 – the action of barring a river; an artificial bar in it, especially on the Nile.[2][4]
  • 1916 – a barrier of artillery or machine-gun fire.[2][3][5]
  • 1917 – figurative, an overwhelming stream of something; verb, to subject to a barrage.[2][4]
  • 1923 – a captive balloon in a balloon barrage.[2]
  • 1955 – in sport, a heat or deciding jump-off.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) Heavy, continuous artillery fire laid on an area, to protect advancing troops or to stop the enemy: The infantry advanced behind a creeping barrage.[11][5][2]
  2. A rapid and overwhelming outpouring of many things at once, such as questions, words or blows: a barrage of complaints.[11][5][12]
  3. A dam or low barrier built across a river or watercourse to raise its level or divert its flow, as for irrigation.[11][5][8][2]
  4. In sport, a deciding jump-off or heat.[2]

Verb

  1. To direct a barrage at; to bombard, also with questions or complaints: Reporters barraged the minister with questions.[5][12][2]

Word family

  • balloon barrage
  • barrage balloon

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin