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• porter
  porter

  noun

  a person hired to carry burdens or baggage, as at a railroad station or a hotel.
• Porter
  Porter

  noun

  Cole, 1893–1964, U.S. composer.

porter

¹ American  

[pawr-ter, pohr-] / ˈpɔr tər, ˈpoʊr- /

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.

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porter ² American  

[pawr-ter, pohr-] / ˈpɔr tər, ˈpoʊr- /

noun

1. a person who has charge of a door or gate; doorkeeper.

2. Roman Catholic Church. ostiary.

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porter ³ American  

[pawr-ter, pohr-] / ˈpɔr tər, ˈpoʊr- /

noun

1. a heavy, dark-brown ale made with malt browned by drying at a high temperature.

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Porter ⁴ American  

[pawr-ter, pohr-] / ˈpɔr tər, ˈpoʊr- /

noun

1. Cole, 1893–1964, U.S. composer.

2. David, 1780–1843, U.S. naval officer.

3. his son David Dixon 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.

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 in medicine 1972.

10. William Sydney O. Henry, 1862–1910, U.S. short-story writer.

11. a male given name.

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Porter ¹ British  

/ ˈpɔːtə /

noun

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. Rodney Robert. 1917–85, British biochemist: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine 1972 for determining the structure of an antibody

5. William Sidney. original name of O. Henry

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porter ² British  

/ ˈpɔːtə /

noun

1. a dark sweet ale brewed from black malt

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porter ³ British  

/ ˈpɔːtə /

noun

1. 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. Also called: ostiary.  RC Church a person ordained to what was formerly the lowest in rank of the minor orders

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porter ⁴ British  

/ ˈpɔːtə /

noun

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. a railway employee who waits on passengers, esp in a sleeper

4. a manual labourer

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Porter Scientific  

/ pôr′tər /

1. British biochemist who shared with George Edelman the 1972 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for their study of the chemical structure of antibodies.

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Etymology

Origin of porter¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English portour, portur(e), porter, from Anglo-French portour, porter, from Middle French portour, from Old French porteour, from Late Latin portātōr- (stem of portātor, a derivative of portāre “to carry”; see also port ⁵, -or ²

Origin of porter²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English porter, porter(e), portar(e), from Anglo-French porter, portour, from Old French portier, from Late Latin portārius “gatekeeper,” equivalent to porta “door” + -ārius adjective and noun suffix; see also port ⁴, -er ²

Origin of porter³

First recorded in 1720–30; short for porter's ale, apparently originally brewed for porters

Explanation

A porter is someone who carries luggage for tourists. If you ever travel by train across the country, you'll be grateful to the porter. The person at an airport, train station, or hotel who's paid to help with your luggage is a porter. It's also the name of a train employee who assists passengers traveling in sleeper cars. The word porter comes from the Latin portatorem, one who carries. The dark, sweet beer known as porter or porter's ale comes from the same root word — because its taste and low price was the favorite of porters and other laborers.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

porter Porter

If the porter is locked in, however, then that shout might not be heard.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

As a $5.28-an-hour porter he had to scrap 15,000 square feet of trash every 60 minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

The unchanged names in the series, which premieres Thursday on Netflix, belong to the four children of Benjamin Lee Guinness, whose grandfather created the signature porter in 1778.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2025

One of the regulars at the hub is 64-year-old Les Mifflin, a former kitchen porter who ended up homeless after the breakdown of a relationship.

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2025

He helped with a bucket and mop Mother had borrowed from the porter, and brought us soup heated over recently acquired Sterno cans.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

And it wasn't long before Jamie Porter became the sixth player to lose his stumps in the innings, wicket number five for a rampant Crocombe.

From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026

The best candidates for travel, Porter says, are those with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage dementia who still enjoy new experiences, tolerate change in routine, recognize their caregiver and can participate without being overwhelmed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

Her early breakthrough came in 1967 when she was hired as the "girl singer" on The Porter Wagoner Show, a TV showcase for country singer Porter Wagoner that reached millions of viewers each week.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Funnily enough, when Dolly Parton made her debut on “The Porter Wagoner Show,” she wasn’t wearing any rhinestones.

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

“But I think Ms. Porter secretly told me that I’m going to be in her creative writing class next year. Just like I wanted. She wrote it in my yearbook.”

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day