barge [ME] A barge was originally a small seagoing vessel rather than a flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight, a sense from the early 16th century. The word is French and probably comes ultimately from Greek baris, which referred to a kind of Egyptian boat used on the Nile. The sense ‘move forcefully or roughly’ [L19th] refers to the way a heavily laden, unwieldy barge might collide with the bank or other traffic. A bargepole was a long pole used to propel or fend off a barge, hence I wouldn’t touch something with a bargepole, in early uses often ‘with the end of a bargepole’. The equivalent expression in America says that you wouldn’t touch something with a ten-foot pole [M19th].