Portentive adjective Presaging; foreshadowing.

Portentous 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 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 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 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 noun See Portress .

Porterhouse noun A house where porter is sold.

Porterhouse steak , a steak cut from a sirloin of beet, including the upper and under part.

Portesse noun See Porteass . [ Obsolete] Tyndale.

Portfire 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.

Portfolio noun [ French portefeuille ; porter to carry + feuille a leaf. See Port to carry, and Folio .]
1. A portable case for holding loose papers, prints, drawings, etc.

2. Hence: The office and functions of a minister of state or member of the cabinet; as, to receive the portfolio of war; to resign the portfolio .

Portglave noun [ French porte- glaive ; porter to carry + glaive a sword.] A sword bearer. [ Obsolete]

Portgreve, Portgrave }[ Anglo-Saxon portgerēfa ; port a harbor + gerēfa a reeve or sheriff. See Reeve a steward, and confer Portreeve .] In old English law, the chief magistrate of a port or maritime town.; a portreeve. [ Obsolete] Fabyan.

Porthole noun (Nautical) An embrasure in a ship's side. See 3d Port .

Porthook noun (Nautical) One of the iron hooks to which the port hinges are attached. J. Knowles.

Porthors noun See Portass . [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

Portico noun ; plural Porticoes or Porticos . [ Italian , Latin porticus . See Porch .] (Architecture) A colonnade or covered ambulatory, especially in classical styles of architecture; usually, a colonnade at the entrance of a building.

Porticoed adjective Furnished with a portico.

Portière noun [ French, from porte gate, door. See Port a gate.] A curtain hanging across a doorway.

Portigue noun See Portague . Beau. & Fl.

Portingal adjective Of or pertaining to Portugal; Portuguese. [ Obsolete] -- noun A Portuguese. [ Obsolete]

Portion noun [ French, from Latin portio , akin to pars , partis , a part. See Part , noun ]
1. That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.

2. A part considered by itself, though not actually cut off or separated from the whole.

These are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!

Job xxvi. 14.

Portions and parcels of the dreadful past.

Tennyson.

3. A part assigned; allotment; share; fate.

The lord of that servant . . . will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

Luke xii. 46.

Man's portion is to die and rise again.

Keble.

4. The part of an estate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate; an inheritance.

Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

Luke xv. 12.

5. A wife's fortune; a dowry. Shak.

Syn. -- Division; share; parcel; quantity; allotment; dividend. -- Portion , Part . Part is generic, having a simple reference to some whole . Portion has the additional idea of such a division as bears reference to an individual, or is allotted to some object; as, a portion of one's time; a portion of Scripture.

Portion transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Portioned ; present participle & verbal noun Portioning .]
1. To separate or divide into portions or shares; to parcel; to distribute.

And portion to his tribes the wide domain.

Pope.

2. To endow with a portion or inheritance.

Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest.

Pope.

Portioner noun
1. One who portions.

2. (Eccl.) See Portionist , 2.

Portionist noun
1. A scholar at Merton College, Oxford, who has a certain academical allowance or portion; -- corrupted into postmaster . Shipley.

2. (Eccl.) One of the incumbents of a benefice which has two or more rectors or vicars.

Portionless adjective Having no portion.

Portise noun See Portass . [ Obsolete]

Portland cement A cement having the color of the Portland stone of England, made by calcining an artificial mixture of carbonate of lime and clay, or sometimes certain natural limestones or chalky clays. It contains a large proportion of clay, and hardens under water.

Portland stone A yellowish-white calcareous freestone from the Isle of Portland in England, much used in building.

Portland vase A celebrated cinerary urn or vase found in the tomb of the Emperor Alexander Severus. It is owned by the Duke of Portland, and kept in the British Museum.

Portlast noun (Nautical) The portoise. See Portoise .

Portliness noun
1. The quality or state of being portly; dignity of mien or of personal appearance; stateliness.

Such pride is praise; such portliness is honor.

Spenser.

2. Bulkiness; corpulence.

Portly adjective [ From Port demeanor.]
1. Having a dignified port or mien; of a noble appearance; imposing.

2. Bulky; corpulent. "A portly personage." Dickens.

Portman noun ; plural Portmen An inhabitant or burgess of a port, esp. of one of the Cinque Ports.

Portmanteau noun ; plural Portmanteaus . [ French porte-manteau ; porter to carry + manteau a cloak, mantle. See Port to carry, and Mantle .] A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys. Thackeray.

Portmantle noun A portmanteau. [ Obsolete]

Portmote noun In old English law, a court, or mote, held in a port town. [ Obsolete] Blackstone.

Portoir noun [ Old French , from porter to bear.] One who, or that which, bears; hence, one who, or that which, produces. [ Obsolete]

Branches . . . which were portoirs , and bare grapes.

Holland.

Portoise noun [ Perhaps from Old French porteis portative, portable.] (Nautical) The gunwale of a ship.

To lower the yards a-portoise , to lower them to the gunwale. -- To ride a portoise , to ride an anchor with the lower yards and topmasts struck or lowered, as in a gale of wind.

Portos noun See Portass . [ Obsolete]

Portpane noun [ From Latin portare to carry + panis bread; probably through French.] A cloth for carrying bread, so as not to touch it with the hands. [ Obsolete]

Portrait noun [ French, originally past participle of portraire to portray. See Portray .]
1. The likeness of a person, painted, drawn, or engraved; commonly, a representation of the human face painted from real life.

In portraits , the grace, and, we may add, the likeness, consists more in the general air than in the exact similitude of every feature.

Sir J. Reynolds.

» The meaning of the word is sometimes extended so as to include a photographic likeness.

2. Hence, any graphic or vivid delineation or description of a person; as, a portrait in words.

Portrait bust , or Portrait statue , a bust or statue representing the actual features or person of an individual; -- in distinction from an ideal bust or statue .

Portrait transitive verb To portray; to draw. [ Obsolete] Spenser.

Portraitist noun A portrait painter. [ R.] Hamerton.

Portraiture noun [ French portraiture .]
1. A portrait; a likeness; a painted resemblance; hence, that which is copied from some example or model.

For, by the image of my cause, I see
The portraiture of his.

Shak.

Divinity maketh the love of ourselves the pattern; the love of our neighbors but the portraiture .

Bacon.

2. Pictures, collectively; painting. [ Obsolete] Chaucer.

3. The art or practice of making portraits. Walpole.

Portraiture transitive verb To represent by a portrait, or as by a portrait; to portray. [ R.] Shaftesbury.

Portray transitive verb [ Written also pourtray .] [ imperfect & past participle portrayed ; present participle & verbal noun Portraying .] [ Middle English pourtraien , Old French portraire , pourtraire , French portraire , from Latin protrahere , protractum , to draw or drag forth; pro forward, forth + trahere to draw. See Trace , transitive verb , and confer Protract .]
1. To paint or draw the likeness of; as, to portray a king on horseback.

Take a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it the city, even Jerusalem.

Ezek. iv. 1.

2. Hence, figuratively, to describe in words.

3. To adorn with pictures. [ R.]

Spear and helmets thronged, and shields
Various with boastful arguments potrayed .

Milton.

Portrayal noun The act or process of portraying; description; delineation.

Portrayer noun One who portrays. Chaucer.

Portreeve noun A port warden.

Portress noun A female porter. Milton.