Meaning & use
porter
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Meanings
nouncountable
A person whose job is to carry bags and goods, for example at a station, airport or hotel.
Grammar: Takes a plural: hotel porters.
Patterns
- a porter at something
A porter carried our suitcases up to the room.
The station porter helped her lift the pram onto the train.
Climbers hired local porters to haul supplies up the mountain.
nouncountableBritish
A person who guards the entrance of a building such as a college or hospital.
Grammar: Mainly British; in North America doorman or concierge is more usual.
Leave your parcel with the porter at the main gate.
The college porter checked every visitor's name.
The hospital porter pushed the patient's bed down the corridor.
nouncountable or uncountable
A dark, heavy beer made from roasted malt.
Grammar: Uncountable for the drink in general; countable for a glass or type: two porters.
He ordered a pint of porter at the pub.
The brewery makes a smoky porter each winter.
Chocolate notes are common in a good porter.
Word forms
| plural | porters |
|---|
Common combinations
- hotel porter
- The hotel porter called us a taxi.
- railway porter
- A railway porter wheeled the trunk away.
- hospital porter
- The hospital porter took her to the ward.
- mountain porter
- Mountain porters often carry heavy loads for tourists.
- pint of porter
- She sipped a pint of porter by the fire.
Synonyms and how they differ
- bellhop
- Bellhop is American and only describes a hotel worker who carries bags, where porter has wider uses.
- carrier
- Carrier is a general word for anyone or anything that carries, while porter names a job.
- doorman
- Doorman guards and opens a building's entrance but does not usually carry luggage.
- stout
- Stout is a similar dark beer, but it is usually even darker and heavier than porter.
Word family
Commonly confused: porter or potter?
porter vs potter
A potter makes ceramics, or as a verb means to wander around happily; a porter carries things.
Practice
At the train station, a ___ helped the elderly couple with their heavy bags.
Choose one answer.
A porter carries luggage. A potter makes pottery, so it sounds similar but fails in meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “porter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.