Porteous

//ˈpɔːtɪəs// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A portable breviary. historical

    "And in his hand his Portesse still he bare, / That much was worne, but therein little red, / For of deuotion he had little care [...]."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
portuary

Example

More examples

"And in his hand his Portesse still he bare, / That much was worne, but therein little red, / For of deuotion he had little care [...]."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman porteose, portehos, Old French portehors, from porte + hors (“outside”).

Etymology 2

Two possible origins: * A topographic surname for someone who lived in the lodge at the entrance to a manor house, from Middle English port (“gateway, entrance”) + hous (“house”). * From Anglo-Norman porteose (“porteous”), a metonymic occupational surname for a scribe employed in writing portable prayerbooks.

More for "porteous"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.