http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=barage&defid=2082565

My q is not what the word means but have you heard it

I Googled it with bar and garage and got hundreds of hits. However, very few of them reflected the UD and I couldn't afford to spend all morning scanning 431 Ghits...

...while other online dictionaries were of little help

Thus secobndary q: If you were compiling a dictionary and needed to know how common a usage was becoming, how would you proceed

Eg, do you know any tricks I don't

No, and it doesn't sound like a very good idea either!

Wordmatic

But why not

I dunno. You might want to park your car in it instead?

WM

I certainly wouldn't use that Urban Dictionary to cite anything; it's just not reliable.

I don't know any tricks, but I'd write word experts (Jesse Scheidlower, Erin McKean, Quinion, etc.) or go to some respected online sources, such as Language Log.

Certainly I park my car in my garage and go to the pub for a pint. It seems a reasonable thing to me. But then I am lucky enough to live in a country that has plenty of pubs.