Meanings
plural persons from Porlock · plural people from Porlock
- idiomaticOne whose inconvenient interruption prevents the completion of something important.
Synonyms: man from Porlock
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne whose inconvenient interruption prevents the completion of something important.
Origin
In reference to an unwelcome visitor described by Samuel Taylor Coleridge as interrupting him during his composition of the poem Kubla Khan in 1797, and preventing its completion.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
person from Porlock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/person%20from%20Porlock
“person from Porlock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/person%20from%20Porlock. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “person from Porlock,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/person%20from%20Porlock.
Source: person from Porlock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.