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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A large leather suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A case used in journeying for containing clothing: originally adapted to the saddle of a horseman, and therefore nearly cylindrical and of flexible make.
  2. n. A trunk, especially a leather trunk of small size.
  3. n. A hook or bracket on which to hang a garment, especially one which holds a coat or cloak securely for brushing.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A large travelling case usually made of leather, and opening into two equal sections.
  2. n. A school bag; often shortened to port or school port
  3. n. A portmanteau word.
  4. adj. Made by combining two words, stories, etc, in the manner of a linguistic portmanteau.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings
  2. n. a large travelling bag made of stiff leather

Etymologies

  1. French portemanteau : porte-, from porter, to carry (from Old French; see port5) + manteau, cloak (from Old French mantel, from Latin mantellum).

Examples

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘portmanteau’.

Comments

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  • bilby "There were several ways of answering it, and he gave considerable thought to each one during the watches of an agitated night. That on which, when morning came, he finally decided was to pitch some clothes into a portmanteau and jump on board a boat that was leaving that very afternoon for St. Augustine."
    - Edith Wharton, 'The Age of Innocence'. Sep 19, 2009

  • nycanthro I rather like "chillax". Reminds me of languid summer nights on my friend's rooftop listening to Marley and drinking gin&tonics.

    Feminazi is pretty deplorable. And way too broadly applied.

    Any opinions on infotain, imagineer or Blacksploitation? Mar 2, 2009

  • thesaraheffect Words like mimsy or chortle may be acceptable applications but most often this results in disgusting amalgamations such as "chillaxing" or that most irritating practice of combining the names of celebrity couples to form a word that somehow represents the relationship. Feb 23, 2009

  • seanahan Officially starting a tagging movement to use this word as a tag for appropriate words. Oct 21, 2007

  • slumry Hobot--I like the image. Imagine an unemployed robot coming to your door wanting to chop wood for his supper. That's time travel. Jul 14, 2007

  • slumry One hundred served! Jul 14, 2007

  • tulgey Still a productive method for word formation - latest example: digistraction ... something we all suffer from, more or less Apr 19, 2007

  • dann Originally a suitcase opening up into two separate compartments. Lewis Carroll was the first to apply it to words, via Humpty Dumpty discussing slithy in Jabberwocky. Other nice examples are spork and chortle (the latter also due to Carroll). Jan 7, 2007

  • uselessness I had a weird dream last night involving a fake Louisiana steamboat named the Portmanteau. I blame this site for invading my subconscious. Dec 26, 2006

  • tomsteele most overused word on wikipedia! Dec 23, 2006

  • inkhorn Good news, everyone! I've taught the toaster to feel love! Dec 12, 2006

  • born2badored I don't want anyone thinking were robosexuals, so if anyone asks, your just my debugger. Dec 6, 2006

  • marco_nj smoke + fog = smog
    hobo + robot = hobot Dec 3, 2006

‘portmanteau’ has been looked up 3909 times, loved by 38 people, added to 229 lists, commented on 13 times, and has a Scrabble score of 15.