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See Port, carriage, demeanor. [Obs.] Spenser. Shak.

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.

Borne not erect, but diagonally athwart an escutcheon; as, a cross portate.

Portable. [Obs.]

A portcullis. [Obs.]

A metallic handle with a clasp for holding a crayon.

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.

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.

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.

Having gates. [Obs.] We took the sevenfold-ported Thebes. Chapman.

See Portague. [Obs.]

A small pocketbook or wallet for carrying money.

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.

The act of foreshowing; foreboding. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

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.

Presaging; foreshadowing.

Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreschadowing, esp. foreschadowing ill; ominous. For, I believe, they are portentous things. Shak. Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor. Macaulay.

r or gate; a doorkeeper; one who waits at the door to receive messages. Shak. To him the porter openeth. John x. 3.

The work of a porter; the occupation of a carrier or of a doorkeeper.

See Portress.