Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

porter ¹ British  

/ ˈpɔːtə /

noun

1. a dark sweet ale brewed from black malt

---

Porter ² 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

---

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

---

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

---

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.

---

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

It shows an elderly porter carrying the burden of Jerusalem and the golden Dome of the Rock on his back.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

At around 8 p.m., night shift workers shut down every gallery in South Hall, locking every prisoner inside his cell, including the porter, who sometimes acts as an additional set of eyes and ears.

From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026

The commute to his Manhattan porter job is convenient, too.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 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

If the porter was surprised, he made no sign.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee

Wing Mack Hansen, prop Andrew Porter and Ryan Baird all start, having not featured for Ireland since the defeat by South Africa in November 2025.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

When Mytheresa folded Net-a-Porter, men’s site Mr. Porter as well as off-price high-end website Yoox under one corporate roof, executives saw an opportunity to offer more designers and reach more shoppers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Mytheresa has more established luxury brands like Prada and Valentino, while Net-a-Porter and Mr. Porter focus on emerging designers, said Beer, the CFO.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026

Colin Porter who has been assisting the clean up in South Tyneside said: "We are very concerned about the wildlife populations, we've seen birds eating them and we know the fish have too."

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

“That’s why he’s good at his job,” said Porter.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---