PORTMANTEAU  , a

leather case or trunk for carrying articles of personal use when travelling . The typical portmanteau of the present day has two compartments which, fastened at the back by hinges, close together like a book . The original portmanteau (adopted from Fr. portmanteau, porter, to carry, manteau, cloak, mantle) was a flexible round leather case to hold a cloak or other garment and of such a shape as could conveniently be carried on a rider's saddle . In French the word was also applied to a bracket or set of pegs on which to hang clothes . C . L . Dodgson (" Lewis Carroll ") in Through the Looking Glass (" The Song of the Jabberwock ") used the expression " portmanteau word " of an invented word composed of two words run together and supposed to convey humorously the combined meaning: thus " slithy " conveys slimy and lithe; " mimsy," flimsy and miserable .