port

The old port of Dubrovnik

Meanings

Noun

  • A place on the coast at which ships can shelter, or dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.
  • A town or city containing such a place, a port city.
  • The left-hand side of a vessel, including aircraft, when one is facing the front. Used to unambiguously refer to directions relative to the vessel structure, rather than to a person or object on board.
  • A sweep rower that primarily rows with an oar on the port side.
  • An entryway or gate.
  • An opening or doorway in the side of a ship, especially for boarding or loading; an embrasure through which a cannon may be discharged; a porthole.
  • A space between two stones wide enough for a delivered stone or bowl to pass through.
  • An opening where a connection (such as a pipe) is made.
  • A logical or physical construct in and from which data are transferred.
  • A female connector of an electronic device, into which a cable's male connector can be inserted.
  • Something used to carry a thing, especially a frame for wicks in candle-making.
  • The manner in which a person carries himself; bearing; deportment; carriage. See also portance.
  • The position of a weapon when ported; a rifle position executed by throwing the weapon diagonally across the front of the body, with the right hand grasping the small of the stock and the barrel sloping upward and crossing the point of the left shoulder.
  • A program that has been adapted, modified, or recoded so that it works on a different platform from the one for which it was created; the act of this adapting.
  • A set of files used to build and install a binary executable file from the source code of an application.
  • A type of very sweet fortified wine, mostly dark red, traditionally made in Portugal.
  • A suitcase or schoolbag.

Adjective

  • Of or relating to port, the left-hand side of a vessel when facing the bow.

Verb

  • To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship; said of the helm.
  • To carry, bear, or transport. See porter.
  • To hold or carry (a weapon) with both hands so that it lays diagonally across the front of the body, with the barrel or similar part near the left shoulder and the right hand grasping the small of the stock; or, to throw (the weapon) into this position on command.
  • To adapt, modify, or create a new version of, a program so that it works on a different platform.
  • To carry or transfer an existing telephone number from one telephone service provider to another.
  • To transfer a voucher or subsidy from one jurisdiction to another.

Related

Similar words

Opposite words

Narrower meaning words

Origin

  • From Old English port, borrowed from Latin portus ("port, harbour"), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pértus ("crossing") (and thus distantly cognate with ford). The directional sense, attested since at least the 1500s, derives from ancient vessels with the steering oar on the right (see etymology of starboard), which therefore had to moor with their left sides facing the dock or wharf.
  • Inherited from the Old English port, from the Latin porta ("passage, gate"), reinforced by the Old French porte. porta.
  • From Old French porter, from Latin portāre ("carry"). Akin to transport, portable.
  • Named from Portuguese Porto, a city in Portugal where the wines were originally shipped from.
  • Abbreviation of portmanteau

Modern English dictionary

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