Originally, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate. He by a privy postern took his flight. Spenser. Out at the postern, by the abbey wall. Shak.
A subterraneous passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks. Mahan.
Back; being behind; private. "The postern door." Dryden.
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