noun
Common
porter
PAW-tuh
Porter (noun) means a person employed to carry luggage or goods, especially at a station, airport, or hotel. Example: “A station porter helped the elderly woman with her heavy suitcase.”
noun
1
A person employed to carry luggage or goods, especially at a station, airport, or hotel.
"A station porter helped the elderly woman with her heavy suitcase."
"We tipped the hotel porter for wheeling our trolley to the lift."
"The porter carried our bags up to the room."
2
A person who staffs and controls the entrance to a building.
"The porter at the college gate checked everyone's name against a list."
"Ask the porter at the front desk if any post has arrived."
"The porter buzzed us in through the main gate."
3
A strong, dark beer similar to a stout but generally lighter in body.
"The pub had a rich chocolatey porter on tap this week."
"Porter was once a favourite drink of London workers."
"He ordered a pint of porter at the pub."
How to use porter
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishSomeone paid to carry luggage or guard a building's entrance, or a type of dark beer.
Common pairings
hotel porter
porter and stout
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Word forms
- Plural
- porters
- Third person singular
- porters
- Past tense
- portered
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Can you complete this real example?
A station _____ helped the elderly woman with her heavy suitcase.
Etymology
From Old French porteor, from Latin portare ("to carry"), formed as "port" (carry) plus the agent suffix "-er". The beer, originally popular with London street porters, takes its name from the same word.
Synonyms
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Rhymes for porter
See all rhymes for porter →Frequently asked questions
What does “porter” mean?
The word “porter” means a person employed to carry luggage or goods, especially at a station, airport, or hotel. In plain terms, someone paid to carry luggage or guard a building's entrance, or a type of dark beer.
How do you pronounce “porter”?
“Porter” is pronounced PAW-tuh (/ˈpɔɹtɚ/ in IPA).
How do you use “porter” in a sentence?
Here is “porter” used in a sentence: “The porter carried our bags up to the room.”
What part of speech is “porter”?
“Porter” is a noun.
Where does the word “porter” come from?
The word “porter” comes from Latin. From Old French porteor, from Latin portare ("to carry"), formed as "port" (carry) plus the agent suffix "-er". The beer, originally popular with London street porters, takes its name from the same word.
Is “porter” a common word?
“Porter” is a fairly common word in modern English.
How many meanings does “porter” have?
“Porter” has 3 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: a person employed to carry luggage or goods, especially at a station, airport, or hotel.
What is the difference between porter and stout?
As beers, porter is a strong, dark beer similar to a stout but generally lighter in body. The two styles are closely related and overlap considerably, so fullness and richness of body, with stout usually the heavier, are the practical differences most drinkers notice.
What does a porter do at a hotel or railway station?
A porter is employed to carry luggage or goods for passengers or guests, especially at a station, airport, or hotel. In some buildings, a porter instead staffs and controls the entrance, a role closer to a doorkeeper.
What is the difference between a porter and a bellhop?
Both carry luggage for guests, but bellhop is the usual American term for the hotel employee who takes bags to rooms. Porter is the more general and more British word, and it also covers workers who move luggage at stations and airports.
What is the difference between a porter and a doorman?
A doorman primarily attends the door of a building, greeting people and controlling who enters. Porter overlaps with this, since one sense of porter is a person who staffs and controls the entrance to a building, but porter also commonly means someone employed to carry luggage or goods, which a doorman is not.
