Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A large leather suitcase that opens into two hinged compartments.
- noun A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words, as chortle, from chuckle and snort.
- noun A word or part of a word that is analyzable as consisting of more than one morpheme without a clear boundary between them, as French du “of the” from de “of” and le “the.”
- adjective General or generalized.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A case used in journeying for containing clothing: originally adapted to the saddle of a horseman, and therefore nearly cylindrical and of flexible make.
- noun A trunk, especially a leather trunk of small size.
- noun A hook or bracket on which to hang a garment, especially one which holds a coat or cloak securely for brushing.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A large
travelling case usually made ofleather , and opening into two equal sections. - noun Australia, dated A school bag; often shortened to port or school port
- noun linguistics A
portmanteau word . - adjective used only before a noun, of a word, etc. Made by combining two (or more) words, stories, etc., in the manner of a linguistic portmanteau.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a new word formed by joining two others and combining their meanings
- noun a large travelling bag made of stiff leather
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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The great champion of New York starchitecture happens to not like the term, which he calls a portmanteau for the “churlish.”
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The great champion of New York starchitecture happens to not like the term, which he calls a portmanteau for the “churlish.”
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Nobody speaks in portmanteau sentences, so they are inherently pretentious and tend to sound pompous.
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My portmanteau is cantilivered and needs bracing...
Perez Hilton thanks Miss California for giving him the chance to make gay marriage a big news topic all last week. Ann Althouse 2009
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I shall be very happy, however, to hear that the old portmanteau is safe at Scotsbrig, for 'you are the last man in England' that should, in the course of a kind
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Lewis Carroll used the term portmanteau to describe a neologism with “two meanings packed up into one word”; his nonsense verse Jabberwocky (pictured) is full of them.
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Lewis Carroll used the term portmanteau to describe a neologism with “two meanings packed up into one word”; his nonsense verse Jabberwocky (pictured) is full of them.
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A portmanteau is a word that turns your wracked brain into a mental case.
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Then he would have told you that cremains falls into the same category as brunch and is known as a portmanteau word.
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Then he would have told you that cremains falls into the same category as brunch and is known as a portmanteau word.
marco_nj commented on the word portmanteau
smoke + fog = smog
hobo + robot = hobot
December 3, 2006
born2badored commented on the word portmanteau
I don't want anyone thinking were robosexuals, so if anyone asks, your just my debugger.
December 6, 2006
inkhorn commented on the word portmanteau
Good news, everyone! I've taught the toaster to feel love!
December 12, 2006
tomsteele commented on the word portmanteau
most overused word on wikipedia!
December 23, 2006
uselessness commented on the word portmanteau
I had a weird dream last night involving a fake Louisiana steamboat named the Portmanteau. I blame this site for invading my subconscious.
December 26, 2006
dann commented on the word portmanteau
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).
January 7, 2007
tulgey commented on the word portmanteau
Still a productive method for word formation - latest example: digistraction ... something we all suffer from, more or less
April 20, 2007
slumry commented on the word portmanteau
One hundred served!
July 14, 2007
slumry commented on the word portmanteau
Hobot--I like the image. Imagine an unemployed robot coming to your door wanting to chop wood for his supper. That's time travel.
July 14, 2007
seanahan commented on the word portmanteau
Officially starting a tagging movement to use this word as a tag for appropriate words.
October 21, 2007
thesaraheffect commented on the word portmanteau
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.
February 24, 2009
nycanthro commented on the word portmanteau
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?
March 2, 2009
bilby commented on the word portmanteau
"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'.
September 19, 2009
dailyword commented on the word portmanteau
Watson used this word when he was talking about Holmes moving to their new Baker Street apartment and bringing all his things with him.
May 29, 2012
25418050 commented on the word portmanteau
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Poor%20Man%27s%20Toe
July 8, 2016