Meanings
- not comparableOn the port (left) side of a ship.
All was quiet for several minutes until the fog broke and a large oak tree passed outside my portside window.
2007 July 10, James Hickey, “Airline War Stories, Expert Division”, in New York Times1 more example
The portside lounge in shades of tan and yellow seated sixty-six passengers while a TV Lounge on the starboard side could accommodate forty-eight passengers in a predominantly blue space.
2010, Justin Merrigan, Ian Collard, Holyhead to Ireland: Stena and Its Welsh Heritage, →ISBN
plural portsides
- An area alongside a port.
- The port (left) side of a boat.
The net is taken in by repeatedly strapping off lengths of the net that are hauled forward alternately from the portside and starboardside; the pile of netting in the foreground is made from successive bights of the net resulting from this procedure.
1967, Ernest D. McRae, The West German research vessel W̲a̲l̲t̲h̲e̲r̲ H̲e̲r̲w̲i̲g̲1 more example
It is obvious that the reasonable principles do not require a merchant ship to bear a green light at her starboardside and a red light at her portside, but if each State were to regulate the colour and the place of the lights with unlimited sovereignty, and without regard for the uniformity, the regulation would be a danger instead of a measure of precaution.
2012, D. Josephus Jitta, The Renovation of International Law, →ISBN
comparative more portside · superlative most portside
- Toward or on the port side.
Ship was to dock portside to at pier 1 but ended up starboardside as docking became seriously complicated
1959, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations, Civil functions, Department of the Army, page 2614
Origin
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
portside. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/portside
“portside.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/portside. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “portside,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/portside.
Source: portside on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.