portitor

Latin > English (Lewis & Short)

portĭtor: ōris, m. portus,
I a tollgatherer (at a seaport), a receiver or collector of customs, a custom-house officer (syn. telonarius), Plaut. Trin. 4, 4, 15; id. As. 1, 3, 7; Cic. Off. 1, 42, 150; id. Agr. 2, 23, 61; id. Rep. 4, 7, 20 (Non. 24, 22); they forwarded letters: epistulam ... ad portitores esse delatam, Ter. Phorm. 1, 2, 100; cf.: portitorum simillimae sunt januae lenoniae; Si adfers, tum patent, Plaut. As. 1, 3, 88.—On account of their strict examinations, transf., a woman who pries into every thing, Plaut. Men. 1, 2, 8.
portĭtor: ōris, m. from the root por, whence porto, a bearer, carrier.
I A carrier, conveyer.
   A Usually one who conveys people in a boat or ship.
   1    In gen., a ferryman, boatman, sailor, mariner (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): Plato cum flumen nave transisset, non ab illo quicquam portitor exegisset, etc., Sen. Ben. 6, 18, 1.—
   2    In partic., the ferryman, i. e. Charon (poet.): ubi portitor aera recepit, etc., Prop. 4 (5), 11, 7: Orci, Verg. G. 4, 502; id. A. 6, 298: Lethaei amnis, Stat. Th. 12, 559; Val. Fl. 1, 784 et saep.—
   B By land, a carrier, carter, wagoner: Portitor Ursae, i. e. the constellation Bootes, who, as it were, drives the wain, Stat. Th. 1, 693.—
II A bearer, carrier (mostly post-class.; cf. bajulus): Helles, i. e. the Ram, Col. 10, 155 (in Mart. 9, 72, 7, we read proditor Helles): lecti sui, Claud. Epigr. 49, 17: frumenti, Cod. Just. 11, 4, 1: ciborum, Prud. στεφ. 5, 405: apicum, Sid. Ep. 6, 3.