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porter

 [pawr-ter, pohr-]   Example Sentences Origin

por·ter

1   [pawr-ter, pohr-]
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.
3.
an attendant in a railroad parlor car or sleeping car.
Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English, variant of portour < Middle French porteour < Late Latin portātōr- (stem of portātor). See port5, -or2

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Porter is always a great word to know.
So is gobo. Does it mean:
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
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Example Sentences
  • But he said that when the porter arrived on the scene, the traditional ales were given up.
  • Some anonymous porter probably ensured national security by throwing the papers away when he cleaned the car.
  • Having said that, better be ready to haggle and haggle before you handover your baggage to the porter.
Dictionary.com Unabridged

por·ter

2   [pawr-ter, pohr-]
noun
1.
a person who has charge of a door or gate; doorkeeper.
2.
Roman Catholic Church. ostiary (def. 1).
Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French < Late Latin portārius gatekeeper. See port4, -er2

por·ter

3   [pawr-ter, pohr-]
noun
a heavy, dark-brown ale made with malt browned by drying at a high temperature.
Origin:
1720–30; short for porter's ale, apparently orig. brewed for porters

Por·ter

   [pawr-ter, pohr-]
noun
1.
Cole, 1893–1964, U.S. composer.
2.
David, 1780–1843, U.S. naval officer.
3.
his son, David Dix·on  [dik-suhn] , 1813–91, Union naval officer in the Civil War.
4.
Edwin Stanton, 1870–1941, U.S. film director.
5.
Gene (Gene Stratton Porter), 1868–1924, U.S. novelist.
EXPAND
6.
Sir George, 1920–2002, British chemist: Nobel prize 1967.
7.
Katherine Anne, 1890–1980, U.S. writer.
8.
Noah, 1811–92, U.S. educator, writer, and lexicographer.
9.
Rodney Robert, 1917–85, British biochemist: Nobel prize for medicine 1972.
10.
William Sydney (“O. Henry”), 1862–1910, U.S. short-story writer.
11.
a male given name.
COLLAPSE

port

2   [pawrt, pohrt]
noun
1.
the left-hand side of a vessel or aircraft, facing forward.
adjective
2.
pertaining to or designating port.
3.
located on the left side of a vessel or aircraft.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
4.
to turn or shift to the port, or left, side.
Origin:
1570–80; special use of port4
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To porter
Collins
World English Dictionary
porter1 (ˈpɔːtə)
 
—n
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
3.  (US), (Canadian) a railway employee who waits on passengers, esp in a sleeper
4.  (E African) a manual labourer
 
[C14: from Old French portour, from Late Latin portātōr, from Latin portāre to carry]

porter2 (ˈpɔːtə)
 
—n
1.  chiefly (Brit) 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
3.  a person in charge of the maintenance of a building, esp a block of flats
4.  RC Church Also called: ostiary a person ordained to what was formerly the lowest in rank of the minor orders
 
[C13: from Old French portier, from Late Latin portārius doorkeeper, from Latin porta door]

porter3 (ˈpɔːtə)
 
—n
(Brit) a dark sweet ale brewed from black malt
 
[C18: shortened from porter's ale, apparently because it was a favourite beverage of porters]

Porter (ˈpɔːtə)
 
—n
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
3.  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)
4.  Peter. born 1929, Australian poet, living in Britain
5.  Rodney Robert. 1917--85, British biochemist: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine 1972 for determining the structure of an antibody
6.  William Sidney. original name of O. Henry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

port
"sweet dark-red wine," 1691, shortened from Oporto, city in northwest Portugal from which the wine was originally shipped, from O Porto "the port."
EXPAND

porter
"person who carries," 1263, from Anglo-Fr. portour, O.Fr. porteor, from L.L. portatorem (acc. portator) "one who carries," from L. portare "to carry" (see port (1)).

porter
"doorkeeper, janitor," 1180s, from Anglo-Fr. portour, from O.Fr. portier, from L.L. portarius "gatekeeper," from L. porta "gate" (see port (2)).

porter
"dark beer," 1727, as porter's ale, from porter (1), because the beer was made for porters and other laborers, being cheap and strong.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

Porter Por·ter (pôr'tər), Rodney Robert. Born 1917.

British biochemist. He shared a 1972 Nobel Prize for his research on the chemical structure and nature of antibodies.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Science Dictionary
port   (pôrt)  Pronunciation Key 

  1. An opening, as in a cylinder or valve face, for the passage of steam or fluid.

  2. A place where data can pass into or out of a central processing unit, computer, or peripheral. With central processing units, a port is a fixed set of connections for incoming and outgoing data or instructions. With computers and peripherals, a port is generally a socket into which a connector can be plugged.


Porter   (pôr'tər)  Pronunciation Key 
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 © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Easton
Bible Dictionary

Porter definition


a gate-keeper (2 Sam. 18:26; 2 Kings 7:10; 1 Chr. 9:21; 2 Chr. 8:14). Of the Levites, 4,000 were appointed as porters by David (1 Chr. 23:5), who were arranged according to their families (26:1-19) to take charge of the doors and gates of the temple. They were sometimes employed as musicians (1 Chr. 15:18).

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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