Porret Por"ret noun [ French
porrette , from Latin
porrum ,
porrus , leek. See
Porraceous .]
A scallion; a leek or small onion. [ R.]
Sir T. Browne.
Porridge Por"ridge noun [ Probably corrupted from
pottage ; perhaps influenced by Middle English
porree a kind of pottage, Old French
porrée , from Latin
porrum ,
porrus , leek. See
Pottage , and confer
Porringer .]
A food made by boiling some leguminous or farinaceous substance, or the meal of it, in water or in milk, making of broth or thin pudding; as, barley porridge , milk porridge , bean porridge , etc.
Porringer Por"rin·ger noun [ Middle English
pottanger , for
pottager ; confer French
potager a soup basin. See
Porridge .]
A porridge dish; esp., a bowl or cup from which children eat or are fed; as, a silver porringer . Wordsworth.
Port Port noun [ From
Oporto , in Portugal, i. e.,
... porto the port, Latin
portus . See
Port harbor.]
A dark red or purple astringent wine made in Portugal. It contains a large percentage of alcohol.
Port Port noun [ Anglo-Saxon
port , Latin
portus : confer French
port . See
Farm ,
v. ,
Ford , and 1st, 3d, & 4h
Port .]
1. A place where ships may ride secure from storms; a sheltered inlet, bay, or cove; a harbor; a haven. Used also figuratively. Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads.
Shak. We are in port if we have Thee.
Keble. 2. In law and commercial usage, a harbor where vessels are admitted to discharge and receive cargoes, from whence they depart and where they finish their voyages. Free port .
See under Free . --
Port bar .
(Naut,) (a) A boom . See
Boom , 4, also
Bar , 3.
(b) A bar, as of sand, at the mouth of, or in, a port. --
Port charges (Com.) ,
charges, as wharfage, etc., to which a ship or its cargo is subjected in a harbor. --
Port of entry ,
a harbor where a customhouse is established for the legal entry of merchandise. --
Port toll (Law) ,
a payment made for the privilege of bringing goods into port. --
Port warden ,
the officer in charge of a port; a harbor master.
Port Port noun [ French
porte , Latin
porta , akin to
portus ; confer Anglo-Saxon
porte , from Latin
porta . See
Port a harbor, and confer
Porte .]
1. A passageway; an opening or entrance to an inclosed place; a gate; a door; a portal. [ Archaic]
Him I accuse
The city ports by this hath entered.
Shak. Form their ivory port the cherubim
Forth issuing.
Milton. 2. (Nautical) An opening in the side of a vessel; an embrasure through which cannon may be discharged; a porthole; also, the shutters which close such an opening. Her ports being within sixteen inches of the water.
Sir W. Raleigh. 3. (Machinery) A passageway in a machine, through which a fluid, as steam, water, etc., may pass, as from a valve to the interior of the cylinder of a steam engine; an opening in a valve seat, or valve face. Air port ,
Bridle port ,
etc. See under Air , Bridle , etc. --
Port bar (Nautical) ,
a bar to secure the ports of a ship in a gale. --
Port lid (Nautical) ,
a lid or hanging for closing the portholes of a vessel. --
Steam port , &
Exhaust port (Steam Engine) ,
the ports of the cylinder communicating with the valve or valves, for the entrance or exit of the steam, respectively.
Port Port transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Ported ;
present participle & verbal noun Porting .] [ French
porter , Latin
portare to carry. See
Port demeanor.]
1. To carry; to bear; to transport. [ Obsolete]
They are easily ported by boat into other shires.
Fuller. 2. (Mil.) To throw, as a musket, diagonally across the body, with the lock in front, the right hand grasping the small of the stock, and the barrel sloping upward and crossing the point of the left shoulder; as, to port arms. Began to hem him round with ported spears.
Milton. Port arms ,
a position in the manual of arms, executed as above.
Port Port noun [ French
port , from
porter to carry, Latin
portare , probably akin to English
fare , v. See
Port harbor, and confer
Comport ,
Export ,
Sport .]
The manner in which a person bears himself; deportment; carriage; bearing; demeanor; hence, manner or style of living; as, a proud port . Spenser. And of his port as meek as is a maid.
Chaucer. The necessities of pomp, grandeur, and a suitable port in the world.
South.
Port Port noun [ Etymology uncertain.]
(Nautical) The larboard or left side of a ship (looking from the stern toward the bow); as, a vessel heels to port . See Note under Larboard . Also used adjectively.
Port Port transitive verb (Nautical) To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship; -- said of the helm, and used chiefly in the imperative, as a command; as, port your helm.
Port-royalist Port-roy"al·ist noun (Eccl. Hist.) One of the dwellers in the Cistercian convent of Port Royal des Champs, near Paris, when it was the home of the Jansenists in the 17th century, among them being Arnauld, Pascal, and other famous scholars. Confer Jansenist .
Porta Por"ta noun ;
plural Portæ . [ Latin , a gate. See
Port a hole.]
(Anat.) (a) The part of the liver or other organ where its vessels and nerves enter; the hilus. (b) The foramen of Monro. B. G. Wilder.
Portability Port`a·bil"i·ty noun The quality or state of being portable; fitness to be carried.
Portable Port"a·ble adjective [ Latin
portabilis , from
portare to carry: confer French
portable . See
Port demeanor.]
1. Capable of being borne or carried; easily transported; conveyed without difficulty; as, a portable bed, desk, engine. South. 2. Possible to be endured; supportable. [ Obsolete]
How light and portable my pain seems now!
Shak. Portable forge .
See under Forge . --
Portable steam engine .
See under Steam engine .
Portableness Port"a·ble·ness noun The quality or state of being portable; portability.
Portace Por"tace noun See Portass . [ Obsolete]
Portage Port"age noun [ From 2d
Port .]
(Nautical) (a) A sailor's wages when in port. (b) The amount of a sailor's wages for a voyage.
Portage Port"age noun [ 3d
Port .]
A porthole. [ Obsolete]
Shak.
Portage Por"tage noun [ French, from
porter to carry. See
Port to carry.]
1. The act of carrying or transporting. 2. The price of carriage; porterage. Bp. Fell. 3. Capacity for carrying; tonnage. [ Obsolete]
Hakluyt. 4. A carry between navigable waters. See 3d Carry .
Portage Por"tage transitive verb & i. To carry (goods, boats, etc.) overland between navigable waters.
Portage group Por"tage group` [ So called from the township of Portage in New York.] (Geol.) A subdivision of the Chemung period in American geology. See Chart of Geology .
Portague Por"ta·gue noun [ See
Portuguese .]
A Portuguese gold coin formerly current, and variously estimated to be worth from three and one half to four and one half pounds sterling. [ Obsolete] [ Written also
portegue and
portigue .]
Ten thousand portagues , besides great pearls.
Marlowe.
Portal Por"tal noun [ Old French
portal , French
portail , Late Latin
portale , from Latin
porta a gate. See
Port a gate.]
1. A door or gate; hence, a way of entrance or exit, especially one that is grand and imposing. Thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone.
Milton. From out the fiery portal of the east.
Shak. 2. (Architecture) (a) The lesser gate, where there are two of different dimensions. (b) Formerly, a small square corner in a room separated from the rest of the apartment by wainscoting, forming a short passage to another apartment. (c) By analogy with the French portail , used by recent writers for the whole architectural composition which surrounds and includes the doorways and porches of a church. 3. (Bridge Building) The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces. 4. A prayer book or breviary; a portass. [ Obsolete]
Portal bracing (Bridge Building) ,
a combination of struts and ties which lie in the plane of the inclined braces at a portal, serving to transfer wind pressure from the upper parts of the trusses to an abutment or pier of the bridge.
Portal Por"tal adjective (Anat.) Of or pertaining to a porta, especially the porta of the liver; as, the portal vein, which enters the liver at the porta, and divides into capillaries after the manner of an artery. »
Portal is applied to other veins which break up into capillaries; as, the renal
portal veins in the frog.
Portamento Por`ta·men"to noun [ Italian , from
portare to carry.]
(Mus.) In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone.
Portance Por"tance noun See Port , carriage, demeanor. [ Obsolete]
Spenser. Shak.
Portass Por"tass noun [ Old French
porte-hors a kind of prayer book, so called from being portable; confer Late Latin
portiforium .]
A breviary; a prayer book. [ Written variously
portace ,
portasse ,
portesse ,
portise ,
porthose ,
portos ,
portus ,
portuse , etc.] [ Obsolete]
Spenser. Camden. By God and by this porthors I you swear.
Chaucer.
Portate Por"tate adjective [ Latin
portatus , past participle of
portare to carry.]
(Her.) Borne not erect, but diagonally athwart an escutcheon; as, a cross portate .
Portative Por"ta·tive adjective [ Confer French
portatif .]
1. Portable. [ Obsolete]
2. (Physics) Capable of holding up or carrying; as, the portative force of a magnet, of atmospheric pressure, or of capillarity.
Portcluse Port"cluse noun A portcullis. [ Obsolete]
Portcrayon Port`cray"on noun [ French
porte- crayon ;
porter to carry +
crayon a crayon.]
A metallic handle with a clasp for holding a crayon.
Portcullis Port·cul"lis noun [ Old French
porte coulisse ,
coleïce , a sliding door, from Latin
colare ,
colatum , to filter, to strain: confer French
couler to glide. See
Port a gate, and confer
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 transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Portcullised ;
present participle & verbal noun Portcullising .]
To obstruct with, or as with, a portcullis; to shut; to bar. [ R.]
Shak.
Porte Porte noun [ French
porte a gate, Latin
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" noun [ French See
Port a gate, and
Coach .]
(Architecture) 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 adjective Having gates. [ Obsolete]
We took the sevenfold- ported Thebes.
Chapman.
Portegue Por"te·gue noun See Portague . [ Obsolete]
Portemonnaie Porte"mon·naie` noun [ French, from
porter to carry +
monnaie money.]
A small pocketbook or wallet for carrying money.
Portend Por·tend" transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Portended ;
present participle & verbal noun Portending .] [ Latin
portendre ,
portentum , to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. +
tendere to stretch. See
Position ,
Tend .]
1. To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. Bacon. Many signs portended a dark and stormy day.
Macaulay. 2. To stretch out before. [ R.] "Doomed to feel the great Idomeneus'
portended steel."
Pope. Syn. -- To foreshow; foretoken; betoken; forebode; augur; presage; foreshadow; threaten.
Portension Por·ten"sion noun The act of foreshowing; foreboding. [ R.]
Sir T. Browne.
Portent Por·tent" noun [ Latin
portentum . See
Portend .]
That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. Shak. My loss by dire portents the god foretold.
Dryden.
Portentive Por·tent"ive adjective Presaging; foreshadowing.
Portentous Por·tent"ous adjective [ Latin
portentosus .]
1. Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous. For, I believe, they are portentous things.
Shak. Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor.
Macaulay. 2. Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size. Roscommon. --
Por*tent"ous*ly ,
adverb --
Por*tent"ous*ness ,
noun
Porter Por"ter noun [ French
portier , Latin
portarius , from
porta a gate, door. See
Port a gate.]
A man who has charge of a door or gate; a doorkeeper; one who waits at the door to receive messages. Shak. To him the porter openeth.
John x. 3.
Porter Por"ter noun [ French
porteur , from
porter to carry, Latin
portare . See
Port to carry.]
1. A carrier; one who carries or conveys burdens, luggage, etc.; for hire. 2. (Forging) A bar of iron or steel at the end of which a forging is made; esp., a long, large bar, to the end of which a heavy forging is attached, and by means of which the forging is lifted and handled in hammering and heating; -- called also porter bar . 3. A malt liquor, of a dark color and moderately bitter taste, possessing tonic and intoxicating qualities. » Porter is said to be so called as having been first used chiefly by the London
porters , and this application of the word is supposed to be not older than 1750.
Porterage Por"ter·age noun 1. The work of a porter; the occupation of a carrier or of a doorkeeper. 2. Money charged or paid for the carriage of burdens or parcels by a porter.
Porteress Por"ter·ess noun See Portress .
Porterhouse Por"ter·house noun A house where porter is sold. Porterhouse steak ,
a steak cut from a sirloin of beet, including the upper and under part.
Portesse Por"tesse noun See Porteass . [ Obsolete]
Tyndale.
Portfire Port"fire` noun A case of strong paper filled with a composition of niter, sulphur, and mealed powder, -- used principally to ignite the priming in proving guns, and as an incendiary material in shells.
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