Synonyms

bellboy

American

[bel-boi] / ˈbɛlˌbɔɪ /

noun

a bellhop.

bellboy British

/ ˈbɛlˌbɔɪ /

noun

Also called (US and Canadian): bellhop. a man or boy employed in a hotel, club, etc, to carry luggage and answer calls for service; page; porter

"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

Etymology

Origin of bellboy

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; bell ¹ + boy

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A hotel manager at a ski resort in Norway does his best to cope with unruly guests and a new bellboy who seems determined to drive him crazy.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 23, 2020

And now they stand in some hotel lobby in Turin, shouting at the proprietor while a bellboy waits, holding the elevator.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 12, 2017

This was, apparently, his idea — and the bellboy, whose name tag reads “JC,” seems to be in on the plan.

From New York Times • Nov. 21, 2016

The four winning owners include the 78-year-old Jim Beaumont, who was born in Liverpool and worked in the city's Adelphi Hotel as a bellboy at the age of 14.

From The Guardian • Apr. 6, 2013

The bellboy who took them up wasn’t a boy and hadn’t a bell.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023