Port

Port - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

PORT, n. [L. portus, porto, to carry; L. fero; Eng. to bear.]

1. A harbor; a haven; any bay,cove, inlet or recess of the sea or of a lake or the mouth of a river, which ships or vessels can enter, and where they can lie safe from injury by storms. Ports may be natural or artificial, and sometimes works of art, as piers and moles, are added to the natural shores of a place to render a harbor more safe. The word port is generally applied to spacious harbors much resorted to be ships, as the port of London or of Boston, and not to small bays or coves which are entered occasionally, or in stress of weather only. Harbor includes all places of safety for shipping.

2. A gate. [L. porta.]

From their ivory port the cherubim

Forth issued.

3. An embrasure or opening in the side of a ship of war, through which cannon are discharged; a port-hole.

4. The lid which shuts a port-hole.

5. Carriage; air; mien; manner of movement or walk; demeanor; external appearance; as a proud port; the port of a gentleman.

Their port was more than human.

With more terrific port

Thou walkest.

6. In seamen's language,the larboard or left side of a ship; as in the phrase,""the ship heels to port."" ""Port the helm,"" is an order to put the helm to the larboard side.

7. A kind of wine made in Portugal; so called from Oporto.

of the voice, in music, the faculty or habit of making the shakes, passages and diminutions, in which the beauty of a song consists.

PORT, v.t. To carry in form; as ported spears.

1. To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship. See the noun, No.6. It is used in the imperative.

Porter - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

A gate-keeper (2 Sam. 18:26; 2 Kings 7:10; 1 Chr. 9:21; 2 Chr. 8:14). Of the Levites, 4,000 were appointed as porters by David (1 Chr. 23:5), who were arranged according to their families (26:1-19) to take charge of the doors and gates of the temple. They were sometimes employed as musicians (1 Chr. 15:18).

Porter - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

PORTER, n. [L. porta, a gate.]

1. A man that has the charge of a door or gate; a door-keeper.

2. One that waits at the door to receive messages.

3. [L. porto.] A carrier; a person who carries or conveys burdens for hire.

4. A malt liquor which differs from ale and pale beer, in being made with high dried malt.

port, por'-ter: "Port" in the sense of "gate" (of a city or building) is obsolete in modern English, and even in the King James Version is found only in Ne 2:13. "Porter," as "gate-keeper," however, is still in some use, but "porter" now (but never in the English Versions of the Bible) generally means a burden-carrier. In the Old Testament, except in 2Sa 18:26; 2Ki 7:10,11, the porter (sho`er) is a sacred officer of the temple or tabernacle, belonging to a particular family of the Levites, with a share in the sacred dues (Ne 13:5; 12:47). The "porters" are mentioned only in Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, and Chronicles has a special interest in them, relating that their duties were settled as far back as the time of David (1Ch 26:1-19), and that the office extended further to the first settlement of Palestine and even to Moses' day (1Ch 9:17-26). The office was evidently one of some dignity, and the "chief-porters" (1Ch 9:26) were important persons. For some inscrutable reason the Revised Version (British and American) renders sho`er by "doorkeeper" in 1Ch 15-26, but not elsewhere.

See DOORKEEPER.

Burton Scott Easton