dumb barge
[see dumb a. 8.]
A barge without mast or sails. On the Thames applied to the ordinary lighters which travel up and down river by means of the tide. (See also quot. 1886, and cf. dummy n. 4 c.)
| 1869 Daily News 24 May, There are, we believe, some four thousand ‘dumb’ barges belonging to the port, and 2,385 sailing barges. 1884 W. C. Russell Jack's Courtship xix, Didn't you notice the dumb-barge right in the road of the tug? Those things are the curse of the river. 1886 N. & Q. 7th Ser. I. 28 (Editor) A dumb barge used to signify a barge used as a pier, and not for the conveyance of merchandise. 1891 Daily News 3 Oct. 3/8 The dumb barge Athens, laden with sugar, was proceeding up the Thames. 1896 Letter fr. London Ship-owner, The barges used for wrecks are large dumb barges, but the word would have to be qualified in some way to convey any other meaning here than an ordinary cargo lighter. |