Portass
(Por"tass) n. [OF. porte-hors a kind of prayer book, so called from being portable; cf. LL. portiforium.]
A breviary; a prayer book. [Written variously portace, portasse, portesse, portise, porthose, portos,
portus, portuse, etc.] [Obs.] Spenser. Camden.
By God and by this porthors I you swear.
Chaucer. Portate
(Por"tate) a. [L. portatus, p. p. of portare to carry.] (Her.) Borne not erect, but diagonally
athwart an escutcheon; as, a cross portate.
Portative
(Por"ta*tive) a. [Cf. F. portatif.]
1. Portable. [Obs.]
2. (Physics) Capable of holding up or carrying; as, the portative force of a magnet, of atmospheric
pressure, or of capillarity.
Portcluse
(Port"cluse) n. A portcullis. [Obs.]
Portcrayon
(Port`cray"on) n. [F. porte- crayon; porter to carry + crayon a crayon.] A metallic handle
with a clasp for holding a crayon.
Portcullis
(Port*cul"lis) n. [OF. porte coulisse, coleïce, a sliding door, fr. L. colare, colatum, to filter, to
strain: cf. F. couler to glide. See Port a gate, and cf. Cullis, Colander.]
1. (Fort.) A grating of iron or of timbers pointed with iron, hung over the gateway of a fortress, to be let
down to prevent the entrance of an enemy. "Let the portcullis fall." Sir W. Scott.
She . . . the huge portcullis high updrew.
Milton. 2. An English coin of the reign of Elizabeth, struck for the use of the East India Company; — so called
from its bearing the figure of a portcullis on the reverse.
Portcullis
(Port*cul"lis), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portcullised ; p. pr. & vb. n. Portcullising.] To obstruct
with, or as with, a portcullis; to shut; to bar. [R.] Shak.
Porte
(Porte) n. [F. porte a gate, L. porta. See Port a gate.] The Ottoman court; the government
of the Turkish empire, officially called the Sublime Porte, from the gate (port) of the sultan's palace at
which justice was administered.
Porte-cochère
(||Porte"-co`chère") n. [F. See Port a gate, and Coach.] (Arch.) A large doorway allowing
vehicles to drive into or through a building. It is common to have the entrance door open upon the passage
of the porte-cochère. Also, a porch over a driveway before an entrance door.
Ported
(Port"ed) a. Having gates. [Obs.]
We took the sevenfold-ported Thebes.
Chapman. Portegue
(Por"te*gue) n. See Portague. [Obs.]
Portemonnaie
(Porte"mon*naie`) n. [F., fr. porter to carry + monnaie money.] A small pocketbook or
wallet for carrying money.
Portend
(Por*tend") v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.] [L. portendre, portentum,
to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See Position,
Tend.]
