porter

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔɹtɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpɔːtə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (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)

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.

porter (plural porters)

2. A person who carries luggage and related objects.

   By the time I reached the train station I was exhausted, but fortunately there was a porter waiting.

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Achilles! a drayman, a porter, a very camel.

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:

     the unsmotherable delight of all the porters and by - standers

   • 1954 February, Trevor Holloway, “Canada's Transcontinental Routes”, in Railway Magazine, page 130:

     The man who carries your luggage at the station is a "red cap", not a porter. The Canadian porter is the man who makes up the beds in the sleeping cars.

   • 1958 February, Arthur F. Beckenham, “A Journey in the Belgian Congo”, in Railway Magazine, page 125:

     As soon as we had come to a stand in Kamina Station, a swarm of porters pushed their way into the compartment to get my luggage. I selected one, and ordered the others out, and then detrained.

   • 2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35:

     Tips were an important part of porters' income, and at Christmas passengers felt there was extra pressure to give them - despite some perceiving the level of service to be poor.

4. (entomology) An ant having the specialized role of carrying.
6. (computing) One who ports software (makes it usable on another platform).
   • 1998, Michael McMillan, Perl from the Ground Up, page 45:

     […] useful only if you are a Perl porter or implementor and you want to check the efficiency of the hashing algorithm.

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

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

porter (countable and uncountable, plural porters)

2. (countable) A person in control of the entrance to a building.
4. (countable, bowling) An employee who clears and cleans tables and puts bowling balls away.
6. (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

8. (beer, Ireland) Stout (malt brew).
   • 1904–1907 (date written), James Joyce, “Counterparts”, in Dubliners, London: Grant Richards, published June 1914, →OCLC, page 107:

     ‘Here, Pat, give us a g.p., like a good fellow.’ The curate brought him a glass of plain porter. The man drank it at a gulp and asked for a caraway seed.

• → Irish: pórtar

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

2. To serve as a porter; to carry.

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

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

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

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

porter m (plural porters)

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

• porteria

• porta

• “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], April 2007

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

• IPA^(key): /pɔʁ.te/

• Audio:

  (file)

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.

From English porter.

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

porter m (plural porters)

1. porter (beer)
   • 1884, Joris-Karl Huysmans, chapter XI, in À rebours [Against the Grain]:

     il […] étancha sa soif avec le porter, cette bière noire qui sent le jus de réglisse dépouillé de sucre.

     He quenched his thirst with some porter, that dark beer which smells of unsweetened liquorice.

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

• Perrot

From Latin portāre (“bring, carry”).

porter

1. to carry

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

porter

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of portō

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

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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔrtər/, /pɔrˈteːr/

porter (plural porters)

1. gatekeeper, doorkeeper

• English: porter
• Yola: porther

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

From Old French porter, from Latin portō, portāre.

porter

1. to carry

   porter la banniere

   to carry the banner

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

• French: porter

• portaïr (Guernsey)

From Old French porter, from Latin portō, portāre.

• Audio (Jersey):

  (file)

porter

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

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

porter m

1. indefinite plural of port

From Latin portāre.

porter

1. to carry

   porter la baniere

   to carry the banner

2. to carry a child (to be pregnant)

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.

• portour

• Middle French: porter
  • French: porter

Borrowed from English porter or French porter.

porter n (uncountable)

1. porter (beer)