Such a porter may be stout (6)
I believe the answer is:
strong
'be stout' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for strong that I've seen before include "is excelling" , "Physically powerful - feel 1 Across" , "strong" , "firm" , "Mighty, powerful" .)