[Porte-bonheur], m. (familiar and popular), pig. Termed in English thieves’ cant, “grunting cheat, or patricoe’s kinchen.” An allusion to certain trinkets which represent this animal and are said to bring luck to the wearer.
Porte-bottes, m. (military), trooper, in opposition to “guêtré,” foot-soldier.
L’hiver c’est à l’écurie que le porte-bottes précède de beaucoup le réveil de ses bons voisins les guêtrés.—Dubois de Gennes.
Porte-chance, m. (popular), lump of excrement, or “quaker.” Literally luck-bearer. Superstitious people in France believe that treading by chance on the above-mentioned is an unfailing sign of a forthcoming moneyed windfall.
Porte-crème, m. (popular), scavenger employed at emptying the cesspools, “gold-finder.”
Porte de prison, f. (popular), ill-natured, snarling person; one who is constantly “nasty,” or “grumble guts;” one whose speeches jar on the ear as unpleasantly as the grating of a prison door.
Portefeuille, m. (familiar and popular), bed, “doss, bug-walk, kip.” Se fourrer dans son ——, to go to bed, to get into “kip.” Mettre un lit en ——, to make an “apple-pie” bed.
De classe en classe les soldats se transmettent un certain nombre de facéties ... mettre le lit du bleu en portefeuille, de façon qu’il ne puisse entrer plus loin que les chevilles.—G. Courteline.
Portefeuilliste, m. (familiar), minister of state.
Porte-luque, m. (thieves’), pocket-book, “dummy, or dee.”