Portmanteau definition | Dictionary.com

port⋅man⋅teau

[pawrt-man-toh, pohrt-; pawrt-man-toh, pohrt-]

Use Portmanteau in a Sentence

–noun, plural -teaus, -teaux [-tohz, -toh, -tohz, -toh]

. Chiefly British.

a case or bag to carry clothing in while traveling, esp. a leather trunk or suitcase that opens into two halves.

Origin:
1575–85; < F portemanteau lit., (it) carries (the) cloak; see port ⁵ , mantle

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source

Link To Portmanteau

port·man·teau (pôrt-mān'tō, pōrt-, pôrt'mān-tō', pōrt'-)

n. pl. port·man·teaus or port·man·teaux (-tōz, -tōz')
A large leather suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments.

[French portemanteau : porte-, from porter, to carry (from Old French; see port⁵) + manteau, cloak (from Old French mantel, from Latin mantellum).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Portmanteau

Port*man"teau\, n.; pl. Portmanteaus. [F. porte-manteau; porter to carry + manteau a cloak, mantle. See Port to carry, and Mantle.] A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys. --Thackeray.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Cite This Source

portmanteau

1584, "traveling case or bag for clothes and other necessaries," from M.Fr. portemanteau "traveling bag," originally "court official who carried a prince's mantle" (1547), from porte, imperative of porter "to carry" (see porter (1)) + manteau "cloak" (see mantle). Portmanteau word "word blending the sound of two different words," is 1882, coined by Lewis Carroll for the sort of words he invented for "Jabberwocky," on notion of "two meanings packed up into one word."

Search another word or see Portmanteau on Thesaurus | Reference

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Advertise with Us · Link to Us · NASCAR® · Contact Us