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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 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 ⁴ 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 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

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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

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

A transit porter and motorman with the New York City subway in the 1980s, Mr. Naiden was active in a tiny communist cell within the union, endorsing free fares and encouraging turnstile hopping.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 10, 2026

Starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin as the famous detective during his younger years, Mamma Mia actor Firth plays Sir Bucephalus Hodge, the dean of Oxford University, where Holmes is a porter.

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 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

It stood wide open, and the porter lay before it.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Just last week, Joey Porter Jr. told reporters he “definitely” would play for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season despite a contract standoff and a lingering back issue.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

Cloned and ghost plates undermine the police's ability to track organised criminals, says Tony Porter, a former senior counter-terrorism officer who has advised the government on surveillance cameras.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

“There has been a notable increase in the intensity of rainfall, which can be directly tied to a warmer atmosphere,” Jeremy Porter, a physical-risk research director at MSCI, told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

“The position the IRS is taking produces a draconian result,” said John Porter, the couple’s lawyer, who contends that the operation of the Elcan GRATs was legitimate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 21, 2026

Joseph didn’t say anything, even though Nick Porter and Brian Boss both laughed like it was so Sometimes, Coach Swieteck was watching those three guys too.

From "Orbiting Jupiter" by Gary D. Schmidt

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