Failure to accomplish a small feat needed to achieve a larger goal which you were expected to reach. Comes from former British Defense Secretary Michael Portillo's constituency loss to the Labour Party in 1997, Portillo had been expected to hold his seat and lead the Conservative Party in opposition, however his loss lead to an obscure career of making documentaries about trains.

A: Shit man, you see the election? He would've been Prime Minister if he hadn't lost his own seat.

B: Yeah, he really pulled a Portillo there.

Portillo by STwigg July 21, 2010

Related Words

portillo • Portillo'd • Portillo-gate • antonio portillo • Santiago Portillo • Pontillo's • Poortillo's • pootillo • portilo • Eli de la portilla

portillo

A portable tortilla. A flour or corn-based flat shell that can be stored and taken with you.

Don forget to teyk you hot salsa and you portillos to work today, chulo.

portillo by sopenco March 26, 2010

Portillo's

Has the best fucking Chicago style hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches.

If in Chicago here is address of best place.
100 W. Ontario
Chicago IL 60654

Man:" Have you been to Portillo's lately?"
Man 2:"Best Fuckin place ever"

Portillo's by RaythatguyfromChicago March 27, 2012

portillo's

a Chicago- restaurant chain do you see Portillo's in another state? just wondering... that has amazing food and rocks!! my personal favorite: Barnelli's, where they serve real, fresh Chicken Caesar salads. best shit ever. oh, and their decor is major bad-ass: 1920s Chicago :)

Portillo's is where we ate for my brother's graduation :)

portillo's by scene_hippie June 12, 2008

Portillo-gate

When someone denies a pregnant lady Portillos chocolate cake without good reason resulting in an uprising.

Do you remember Portillo-gate 2012? That pregnant chick went crazy on that lady!

Portillo-gate by searchie #3 October 8, 2012

Portillo's

The cult restaurant of northern Illinois. Fast food like cheese fries, hot dogs, hamburgers,etc...
Supposedly has the "best" chocolate cake.

"Portillo's has the best chocolate cake"
" Hey wanna got to Portillo's later "

Portillo's by Bindi June 4, 2017

crunchy

Adjective. Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc.

Also used to describe establishments where alternative foods and products are sold, i.e. natural food stores.

Modified derivative of granola.

"I need more crunchy guys in my life. I'm so tired of dating preppy metrosexual assholes."

"I'm heading out to the crunchy store to pick up some fair trade chocolate and tea tree oil, do you need anything?"

crunchy by EBC July 11, 2007

Word of the Day on September 24, 2026

Galantir

A group of people, typically women, searching through someone’s digital footprint in order to find more information about that person.

Susie wasn’t sure if her new Hinge match was a creep, so she assembled Galantir and they found out he used to post slurs on gaming forums.

Galantir by Ge-sus September 22, 2026

Word of the Day on September 23, 2026

murderhobo

In a tabletop game, a murderhobo is a player who murders NPCs indiscriminately. This is normally derogatory, referring to a player who totally ignores quests, dialog, backstory, trade, world building etc.

The term is most common with Dungeons and Dragons, but it can be applied to most RPGs where the player is allowed to kill most quest-giving NPCs and NPC traders. E.g. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Divinity original sin.

DM: The sad little orphan girl tugs at Steve's trenchcoat to get his attention, and ask for help saving her pet dog from...
Steve: I'd like to roll a strength check against strangling the orphan.
Dave: I call dibs on the dog.
DM: You murderhobos disgust me.

murderhobo by Loup&S September 9, 2021

Word of the Day on September 22, 2026

Whale

In sales terms, a whale is a prospect that is significantly larger than an organization’s average customer.

Whales are large and extremely difficult to close. Due to their immense size, they are highly sought-after.

A whale is typically identified at first by a whale hunter on the sales team, but often requires cross-discipline participation in order to close; this includes assistance from operations, engineering, creative, client success, and business development teams.

"Shit...the sales director chewed me out on the sales call this morning. He's totally pissed that I have nothing in my pipeline. I've been focused on this one whale for so long that I haven't had time to prospect for normal-sized deals."

Whale by FQ_GFY February 3, 2020

Word of the Day on September 21, 2026