porter

1
[ pawr-ter, pohr- ]
See synonyms for porter on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a person hired to carry burdens or baggage, as at a railroad station or a hotel.

  2. a person who does cleaning and maintenance work in a building, factory, store, etc.

  1. an attendant in a railroad parlor car or sleeping car.

Origin of porter

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English portour, portur(e), porter, from Anglo-French portour, porter, from Middle French portour, from Old French porteour, from Late Latin portātōr- (stem of portātor, a derivative of portāre “to carry”; see also port5, -or2

Words Nearby porter

Other definitions for porter (2 of 4)

porter2
[ pawr-ter, pohr- ]

noun
  1. a person who has charge of a door or gate; doorkeeper.

  2. Roman Catholic Church. ostiary (def. 1).

Origin of porter

2
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English porter, porter(e), portar(e), from Anglo-French porter, portour, from Old French portier, from Late Latin portārius “gatekeeper,” equivalent to porta “door” + -ārius adjective and noun suffix; see also port4, -er2

Other definitions for porter (3 of 4)

porter3
[ pawr-ter, pohr- ]

noun
  1. a heavy, dark-brown ale made with malt browned by drying at a high temperature.

Origin of porter

3
First recorded in 1720–30; short for porter's ale, apparently originally brewed for porters

Other definitions for Porter (4 of 4)

Porter
[ pawr-ter, pohr- ]

noun
  1. Cole, 1893–1964, U.S. composer.

  2. David, 1780–1843, U.S. naval officer.

  1. his son, David Dix·on [dik-suhn], /ˈdɪk sən/, 1813–91, Union naval officer in the Civil War.

  2. Edwin Stanton, 1870–1941, U.S. film director.

  3. Gene Gene Stratton Porter, 1868–1924, U.S. novelist.

  4. Sir George, 1920–2002, British chemist: Nobel Prize 1967.

  5. Katherine Anne, 1890–1980, U.S. writer.

  6. Noah, 1811–92, U.S. educator, writer, and lexicographer.

  7. Rodney Robert, 1917–85, British biochemist: Nobel Prize in medicine 1972.

  8. William Sydney "O. Henry", 1862–1910, U.S. short-story writer.

  9. a male given name.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use porter in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for porter (1 of 4)

porter1

/ (ˈpɔːtə) /


noun
  1. a person employed to carry luggage, parcels, supplies, etc, esp at a railway station or hotel

  2. (in hospitals) a person employed to move patients from place to place

  1. US and Canadian a railway employee who waits on passengers, esp in a sleeper

  2. East African a manual labourer

Origin of porter

1
C14: from Old French portour, from Late Latin portātōr, from Latin portāre to carry

British Dictionary definitions for porter (2 of 4)

porter2

/ (ˈpɔːtə) /


noun
  1. mainly British a person in charge of a gate or door; doorman or gatekeeper

  2. a person employed by a university or college as a caretaker and doorkeeper who also answers enquiries

  1. a person in charge of the maintenance of a building, esp a block of flats

  2. Also called: ostiary RC Church a person ordained to what was formerly the lowest in rank of the minor orders

Origin of porter

2
C13: from Old French portier, from Late Latin portārius doorkeeper, from Latin porta door

British Dictionary definitions for porter (3 of 4)

porter3

/ (ˈpɔːtə) /


noun
  1. British a dark sweet ale brewed from black malt

Origin of porter

3
C18: shortened from porter's ale, apparently because it was a favourite beverage of porters

British Dictionary definitions for Porter (4 of 4)

Porter

/ (ˈpɔːtə) /


noun
  1. Cole. 1893–1964, US composer and lyricist of musical comedies. His most popular songs include Night and Day and Let's do It

  2. George, Baron Porter of Luddenham. 1920–2002, British chemist, who shared a Nobel prize for chemistry in 1967 for his work on flash photolysis

  1. Katherine Anne. 1890–1980, US short-story writer and novelist. Her best-known collections of stories are Flowering Judas (1930) and Pale Horse, Pale Rider (1939)

  2. Rodney Robert. 1917–85, British biochemist: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine 1972 for determining the structure of an antibody

  3. William Sidney. original name of O. Henry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Porter

Porter

[ pôrtər ]


  1. British biochemist who shared with George Edelman the 1972 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for their study of the chemical structure of antibodies.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.