PORTSMOUTH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does Portsmouth mean? 

• PORTSMOUTH (noun)
  The noun PORTSMOUTH has 3 senses:

1. a port city in southeastern Virginia on the Elizabeth River opposite Norfolk; naval base; shipyards

2. a port town in southeastern New Hampshire on the Atlantic Ocean

3. a port city in southern England on the English Channel; Britain's major naval base

  Familiarity information: PORTSMOUTH used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PORTSMOUTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A port city in southeastern Virginia on the Elizabeth River opposite Norfolk; naval base; shipyards

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

city; metropolis; urban center (a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts)

port (a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country)

Holonyms ("Portsmouth" is a part of...):

Old Dominion; Old Dominion State; VA; Va.; Virginia (a state in the eastern United States; one of the original 13 colonies; one of the Confederate States in the American Civil War)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A port town in southeastern New Hampshire on the Atlantic Ocean

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

port (a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country)

town (an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city)

Holonyms ("Portsmouth" is a part of...):

Granite State; N.H.; New Hampshire; NH (a state in New England; one of the original 13 colonies)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A port city in southern England on the English Channel; Britain's major naval base

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Pompey; Portsmouth

Instance hypernyms:

city; metropolis; urban center (a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts)

port (a place (seaport or airport) where people and merchandise can enter or leave a country)

Holonyms ("Portsmouth" is a part of...):

England (a division of the United Kingdom)

 Context examples 

What might have been hard to bear at Mansfield was to become a slight evil at Portsmouth.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I was at Plymouth dreading to hear of him; he sent in letters, but the Grappler was under orders for Portsmouth.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Mr. Joseph Harrison drove us down to the station, and we were soon whirling up in a Portsmouth train.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The town is about as large as Portsmouth.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

They raided his store last night, and he and his papers are all in Portsmouth jail.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I remember the awe with which one day in Thomas Street, Portsmouth, I saw a print of the great Corsican in a bookseller’s window.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This scheme was that she should accompany her brother back to Portsmouth, and spend a little time with her own family.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But you, yourself, brought Mrs Harville, her sister, her cousin, and three children, round from Portsmouth to Plymouth.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

“From Portsmouth at midday,” said the secretary, examining the superscription.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Seamen would tell us how they had left London and been engaged ere nightfall, or sailed out of Portsmouth and been yard-arm to yard-arm before they had lost sight of St. Helen’s light.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)