bellhop
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bellhop
Explanation
A bellhop is a person whose job involves carrying people's luggage in a hotel. When you check into a fancy inn, the bellhop will take your suitcase up to your room for you. You can also call a bellhop a bellboy, unless she's a woman, in which case bellhop makes more sense. The main job of a bellhop is to help hotel customers transport their luggage to their rooms, or to their cars when they're checking out. The word comes from the old fashioned hotel practice of the desk clerk ringing a bell to summon the bellhop — who would presumably "hop" to work, hurrying to help with the patron's bags.
Vocabulary lists containing bellhop
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
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Me Talk Pretty One Day
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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.
See Examples For:
He was, for a day, a short-order cook, a bellhop, a social work aide, a plumber.
From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2024
I was always the bellhop, the busboy, the window washer,” Jordan said in 1994.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2022
Irure, who started working at age 13 as a hotel bellhop, was working as a professional cleaner when the pandemic hit Spain last year and dried up his sources of income.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 23, 2021
On Kauai, 57-year-old Edwin Pascua has been unemployed from his hotel bellhop job since March and worries about having contact with infected travelers - but would rather be working.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 20, 2020
A bellhop in a bright yellow-and-white Hawaiian shirt offers to retrieve our nonexistent luggage.
From "Everything, Everything" by Nicola Yoon
And by Valentine’s Day 1974, more than 3,000 Californians, from gas station attendants to hotel bellhops, were out of work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
The strike encompassed housekeepers, dishwashers, cooks, waiters, bellhops and front-desk agents,
From Reuters ● Jul. 5, 2023
No progress was reported in negotiations between employers and Unite Here Local 11, which represents bellhops, front desk agents, room attendants, cooks, servers and dishwashers.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 5, 2023
The workers, who walked off the job Sunday, are asking for better pay, limits on their workloads and help with housing for servers, bellhops, dishwashers and front desk staff in Los Angeles.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 4, 2023
The concierge seemed too intimidating, so he asked one of the bellhops, who directed him to the house phone.
From "Small Steps" by Louis Sachar
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
