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Definition of "porter" []

  • A person employed to carry burdens, especially an attendant who carries travelers' baggage at a hotel or transportation station. (noun)
  • A railroad employee who waits on passengers in a sleeping car or parlor car. (noun)
  • A maintenance worker for a building or institution. (noun)
  • Chiefly British One in charge of a gate or door. (noun)
  • A dark beer resembling light stout, made from malt browned or charred by drying at a high temperature. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "porter" in a sentence
  • "_Pylorus_ is the Greek for a porter; and our ring is indeed a porter like the one of which we have already said so much, and which I called last time the _porter up above_, in anticipation of his colleague below."
  • "An old hand will tell you the peculiarities of every spike in England, as: at A you are allowed to smoke but there are bugs in the cells; at B the beds are comfortable but the porter is a bully; at C they let you out early in the morning but the tea is undrinkable; at D the officials steal your money if you have anyand so on interminably."
  • "When the dead body of a Ukrainian porter is discovered in the restaurant cellar, the tenuous balance in Gabe's life begins to slip."