portmanteau

English

WOTD – 8 March 2007    
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Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From French portemanteau, literally porte (“carry”) + manteau (“coat”)

Noun

portmanteau (plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux)

  1. A large travelling case usually made of leather, and opening into two equal sections.
    • 1667, Charles Croke, Fortune's Uncertainty:
      Rodolphus therefore finding such an earnest Invitation, embrac'd it with thanks, and with his Servant and Portmanteau, went to Don Juan's; where they first found good Stabling for their Horses, and afterwards as good Provision for themselves.
  2. (Australia, dated) A school bag; often shortened to port or school port
Translations
case

Etymology 2

Coined by Lewis Carroll in Through The Looking Glass to describe the words he coined in Jabberwocky.

Noun

portmanteau (plural portmanteaus or portmanteaux)

  1. (linguistics) A portmanteau word.
Synonyms
Translations
portmanteau word — see portmanteau word

Adjective

portmanteau (not comparable)

  1. (used only before a noun, of a word, story, etc.) Made by combining two (or more) words, stories, etc., in the manner of a linguistic portmanteau.
    • 2002, Nicholas Lezard, Spooky tales by the master and friends in The Guardian (London) (December 14, 2002) page 30:
      The overall narrator of this portmanteau story - for Dickens co-wrote it with five collaborators on his weekly periodical, All the Year Round - expresses deep, rational scepticism about the whole business of haunting.
    • 2002, Nick Bradshaw, One day in September in Time Out (December 11, 2002) Page 71:
      We're so bombarded with images, it's a struggle to preserve our imaginations.' In response, he's turned to cinema, commissioning 11 film-makers to contribute to a portmanteau film, entitled '11'09"01' and composed of short films each running 11 minutes, nine seconds and one frame.

Derived terms

See also

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Last modified on 10 February 2013, at 00:22