porter

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɹtɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːtə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(ː)ɹtɚ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpoətə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English porter, portere, portier, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French porteor, from Late Latin portātor, from past participle of Latin portāre (“to carry”).

Noun

porter (plural porters)

1. A person who carries luggage and related objects.

   By the time I reached the train station I was exhausted, but fortunately there was a porter waiting.

   • 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35:

     Tips were an important part of porters' income, and at Christmas passengers felt there was extra pressure to give them - despite some perceiving the level of service to be poor. […] In contrast, the Westminster Gazette in 1912 was much more positive about railway staff, praising the "...army of porters hustling and bustling hither and thither with barrows groaning under the weight of bags and baggage and... the ever-patient and long-suffering guards, courteously giving information and advice to the querulous passengers... to the porter the Christmas season means a continuous round of heavy labour, extremely tiring to both nerves and temper, and this fact the public too often seem either to forget or ignore."

2. (entomology) An ant having the specialized role of carrying.
3. (computing) One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform).
   • 1998, Michael McMillan, Perl from the Ground Up, page 45:

     […] useful only if you are a Perl porter or implementor and you want to check the efficiency of the hashing algorithm.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English porter, portere, portare, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French portier, from Late Latin portarius (“gatekeeper”), from Latin porta (“gate”).

Noun

porter (countable and uncountable, plural porters)

1. (countable) A person in control of the entrance to a building.
2. (countable, bowling) An employee who clears and cleans tables and puts bowling balls away.
3. (countable, uncountable, beer) A strong, dark ale, originally favored by porters (etymology 1, sense 1), similar to a stout but less strong.

   Coordinate term: stout

4. (beer, Ireland) Stout (malt brew).
   • 1914 June, James Joyce, “Counterparts”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC, page 107:

     “Here, Pat, give us a g.p., like a good fellow.” The curate brought him a glass of plain porter. The man drank it at a gulp and asked for a caraway seed.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

porter (third-person singular simple present porters, present participle portering, simple past and past participle portered)

1. To serve as a porter; to carry.

Anagrams

• Perrot, perrot, porret, pretor, proter, report, troper

Catalan

Etymology

From porta +‎ -er or from Old Catalan porter, from Late Latin portārius, from Latin porta. Compare French portier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

porter m (plural porters)

1. doorman, doorkeeper, gatekeeper
2. (sports) goalkeeper

Derived terms

• porteria

Related terms

• porta

Further reading

• “porter” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French porter, from Latin portāre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“go, traverse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.te/

• audio

  (file)

Verb

porter

1. to carry
2. to support, to bear
3. to wear
4. (transitive with sur) to be about, to concern

   Sur quoi portait la question ? ― What was the question concerning?

5. (reflexive, se porter) to feel, to carry one's self

   Je me porte mieux. ― I am feeling better.

   Il se porte bien. ― He's in good health.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

From English porter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.tɛʁ/
• Homophone: portèrent

Noun

porter m (plural porters)

1. porter (beer)
   • 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans, chapter XI, in À rebours [Against the Grain]:

     il […] étancha sa soif avec le porter, cette bière noire qui sent le jus de réglisse dépouillé de sucre.

     He quenched his thirst with some porter, that dark beer which smells of unsweetened liquorice.

Further reading

• “porter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• Perrot

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin portāre, present active infinitive of portō (“bring, carry”).

Verb

porter

1. to carry

Conjugation

• Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Latin

Verb

porter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of portō

Middle English

Alternative forms

• portare, porteour, portere, portir, portor, portour

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman porter, portour, from a combination of Late Latin portārius and portātor, portātōrem; equivalent to port +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔrtər/, /pɔrˈteːr/

Noun

porter (plural porters)

1. gatekeeper, doorkeeper

Descendants

• English: porter
• Yola: porther

References

• “portē̆r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French porter, from Latin portō, portāre.

Verb

porter

1. to carry

   porter la banniere

   to carry the banner

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Descendants

• French: porter

Norman

Alternative forms

• portaïr (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French porter, from Latin portō, portāre.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Jersey)

  (file)

Verb

porter

1. (Jersey) to carry
2. (Jersey) to wear

Derived terms

• porter un coup (“to strike”)
• portchi (“porter”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

porter m

1. indefinite plural of port

Old French

Etymology

From Latin portāre, present active infinitive of portō.

Verb

porter

1. to carry

   porter la baniere

   to carry the banner

2. to carry a child (to be pregnant)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Related terms

• portour

Descendants

• Middle French: porter
  • French: porter

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English porter or French porter.

Noun

porter n (uncountable)

1. porter (beer)

Declension