porter

English Online Dictionary. What means porter‎? What does porter mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɹtɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːtə/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(ː)ɹtɚ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpoətə/
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

From Middle English porter, portere, portier, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French porteor, from Late Latin portātor, from past participle of Latin portāre (“to carry”). By surface analysis, port (“to carry”) +‎ -er.

Noun

porter (plural porters)

1. A person who carries luggage and related objects.
2. (entomology) An ant having the specialized role of carrying.
3. (computing) One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform).

Hyponyms

• (carrier of burdens): jampani (jampan-bearer); dandy-wallah (dandy-bearer)

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English porter, portere, portare, borrowed from Anglo-Norman portour and Old French portier, from Late Latin portarius (“gatekeeper”), from Latin porta (“gate”).

Noun

porter (countable and uncountable, plural porters)

1. (countable) A person in control of the entrance to a building.
2. (countable, bowling) An employee who clears and cleans tables and puts bowling balls away.
3. (countable, uncountable, beer) A strong, dark ale, originally favored by porters (etymology 1, sense 1), similar to a stout but less strong.

   Coordinate term: stout

4. (beer, Ireland) Stout (malt brew).

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Irish: pórtar

Translations

Verb

porter (third-person singular simple present porters, present participle portering, simple past and past participle portered)

1. To serve as a porter; to carry.

Anagrams

• Perrot, perrot, porret, pretor, proter, report, troper

Catalan

Etymology

From porta +‎ -er or from Old Catalan porter, from Late Latin portārius, from Latin porta. Compare French portier.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [purˈte]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [porˈte]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [poɾˈteɾ]

Noun

porter m (plural porters)

1. doorman, doorkeeper, gatekeeper
2. (sports) goalkeeper

Derived terms

• porteria

Related terms

• porta

Further reading

• “porter”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French porter, from Latin portāre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“go, traverse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.te/

Verb

porter

1. to carry
2. to support, to bear
3. to wear
4. (intransitive) to be about, to concern [with sur]

   Sur quoi portait la question ? ― What was the question concerning?

5. (reflexive, se porter) to feel, to carry one's self

   Je me porte mieux. ― I am feeling better.

   Il se porte bien. ― He's in good health.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Etymology 2

From English porter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.tɛʁ/
• Homophone: portèrent

Noun

porter m (plural porters)

1. porter (beer)

Further reading

• “porter”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• Perrot

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin portāre (“bring, carry”).

Verb

porter

1. to carry

Conjugation

• Ladin conjugation varies from one region to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Latin

Verb

porter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of portō

Middle English

Alternative forms

• portare, porteour, portere, portir, portor, portour

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman porter, portour, from a combination of Late Latin portārius and portātor, portātōrem; equivalent to port +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔrtər/, /pɔrˈteːr/

Noun

porter (plural porters)

1. gatekeeper, doorkeeper

Descendants

• English: porter
• Yola: porther

References

• “portē̆r, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French porter, from Latin portō, portāre.

Verb

porter

1. to carry

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Descendants

• French: porter

Norman

Alternative forms

• portaïr (Guernsey)

Etymology

From Old French porter, from Latin portō, portāre.

Pronunciation

Verb

porter

1. (Jersey) to carry
2. (Jersey) to wear

Derived terms

• porter un coup (“to strike”)
• portchi (“porter”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

porter m

1. indefinite plural of port

Old French

Etymology

From Latin portāre.

Verb

porter

1. to carry

2. to carry a child (to be pregnant)

Conjugation

This verb conjugates as a first-group verb ending in -er. The forms that would normally end in *-ts, *-tt are modified to z, t. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.

Related terms

• portour

Descendants

• Middle French: porter
  • French: porter

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English porter or French porter.

Noun

porter n (uncountable)

1. porter (beer)

Declension