Porthouse
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A building that contains the offices of officials responsible for running a port, space for customs, etc.
"We had accomplished about three-quarters of[ the distance, and were beginning to look to the terminataon of our labors; Cape Traverse was full in sight, and even the porthouse, which was our goal, and we knew that we could now be seen by the lookout, who watched the course of the boat as soon as it came in sight, in order to send the sleigh along the coast to meet the party."
- 2 The main cabin on the port side of a boat.
"The starboard-house is a small galley and the porthouse contains the stairway leading below to the captain's cabin and mate's messroom."
Example
More examples"We had accomplished about three-quarters of[ the distance, and were beginning to look to the terminataon of our labors; Cape Traverse was full in sight, and even the porthouse, which was our goal, and we knew that we could now be seen by the lookout, who watched the course of the boat as soon as it came in sight, in order to send the sleigh along the coast to meet the party."
Etymology
From port + house.
More for "porthouse"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.