porchful

From porch +‎ -ful.

porchful (plural porchfuls)

1. The amount that fills a porch.
   • 1936 April 13, “Scouts’ Birthday Celebration Here a Big Success; Given a Royal Welcome by the Residents: […]”, in Serrill D. Detlefson, editor, The Bristol Courier, volume XXX, number 265, Bristol, Pa.: Bristol Printing Company, page one, column 7:

     The march through the residential section of Pond street and Farragut avenue contained crowded intersections of onlookers with the middle of the blocks having porchfuls of interested persons.

   • 1948 October 30, Ed[ward] Mulligan, “Mulligan’s Stew: A weekly summary of Views and News of Mason County Merchants”, in The Ludington Daily News, volume 58, number 305, Ludington, Mich., →OCLC, page five, column 5:

     Well, tonight the kids are operating on a ghost-to-ghost hookup . . . going all out for tricks or treats, and we suppose it is best to put up with this mild form of blackmail and come across. At least we get to see the spooks, goblins and witches which are roaming the city and that in itself is usually a treat for the victim. Personally, we would rather shudder at the porchful of assorted “characters” than shout at the alleysful of property wreckers.

   • 1985, Meredith Sue Willis, chapter 9, in Only Great Changes: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →ISBN, page 158:

     I still itched when I was stared at by the men on the corner: each part of my body seemed to advance toward them separately—breast, hair, hand, butt, like clothes hung on a line. Almost as bad at first had been the porchfuls of women who would let out peals of laughter as I passed. But I soon learned to walk right up and introduce myself, to pass out flyers and say I hoped to call on them individually very soon.