porta 
4630 
[< OF. jHii-titl, F. i>fi>-t,iil 
portal vein (which sec. under ;>or<///'). See portal 1 (por'tal), . 
cut under Urn: (6) The foramen of Monro; Sp. Vg.]iorta(=D.poriiiai=(i. Sw! ban'. portal 
especially, the laU-ral orifice of the Y-shaped <iil,. portale, entrance, vestibule, portal, neut. 
foramen whii-h opens communication between of portalin. pertaining to a gate (see porlal-\ 
each of the lateral ventricles of the brain and < L. porta, a gate, door : nee port?.] 1. A door 
the Iliird ventricle. Porta hepatls.thc transverse 
port-crayon 
troduced. but readily pane* Into a vulgar mannerism. 
The term la sometimes loosely applied to legato effect* on 
keyed instruments. 
nature of the liver. Porta lienis, the hilum of the 
spleen. Porta pulmonis, the hilum of the lung, an 
elongate elliptical recess where the bronchus, vessels, 
etc., enter or emerge from the lung. Porta renia, the 
notch or hilum of the kidney. 
portability (por-ta-bil'i-ti), . [= F. portabi- 
Iit4; < portable + -ity (see -bility).] The state 
of being portable ; fitness to be carried; porta- 
lilcness. 
By n nscrewlng the pillar, the whole is made to pack Into 
a small flat case, the extreme portability of which is a great 
recommendation. H'. 11. Carpenter, Micros., { 43. 
portable (por'ta-bl), . [= F. portable = It. 
l>ortabilc, < LL. portabilis, that may be carried, 
< L. porture, carry: see uor< 3 .] 1. Capable of 
being carried in the hand or about the person ; 
capable of being carried or transported from 
place to place ; easily carried or conveyed. 
In Wales where there are portable boats . . . made of 
leather. Sir T. Bromite, Vulg. Err., Ii. 3. 
They (poems) are caskets which inclose within a small 
compass the wealth of the language its family jewels, 
which are thus transmitted in a portable form to posterity. 
Irving, Sketch-liook, p. 170. 
2f. Supportable; tolerable. 
How light and portable my pain seems now ! 
Shot., Lear, iii. 6. 115. 
3t. Capable of carrying or transporting. 
If you Bud great plentie of tymber on the shore side, or 
vpon any portable riuer, you were best to cut downe of the 
same the first winter to be seasoned for ships, barken, 
boates, and houses. HaUvyt't Foyagei, III. 46. 
4f. Accessible (f). 
Had his designes beene to have perswaded men to a mine 
of gold ; ... or some new Invention to passe to the South 
8ea ; or some strange plot to invade some strange Monas- 
tery or some portable t'ountrle, . . . what multitudes of 
both people and mony would contend to be first imploied ! 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 2t>4. 
Casella's portable anemometer. *ee anemometer. 
Portable holler and furnace, a furnace mounted on 
wheels, used to heat tar or other material, as for paving 
or rooting. - Portable dial. See dial. Portable gas, 
gas furnished to consumers in portable reservoirs which 
serve to supply small holders or tanks at the place of 
consumption. 
portableness (por'ta-bl-ues), . The charac- 
ter of being portable ; portability. 
portacet, . Same as par toss. 
portae, . Plural of porta. 
portage 1 (por'taj), . [<F. portage = Sp. por- 
tajf, i>orta:go =' Pg.porlngem = It. portaggio, < 
ML. porta ticiim, also, after Rom.,porta<fiuni, car- 
riage, portage/ L.portare, carry: see/>or< :t .] 1. 
The act of carrying; carriage; transportation. 
Flue hundred pounds here hauc they sent by me, 
For the easier portage, all in angel gold. 
Ifeyienod, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, cd. 1'earson, Is74, I. 89). 
If the hundred-weight were of gold or jewels, a weaker 
person would think it no trouble to hear that burden, If 
it were the reward of his portage. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (cd. 1835), I. 248. 
2. That which is carried or transported ; cargo; 
freight; baggage. 
The Moses bacely begge or blbbe, 
Or both, and must, for why? 
They linde as bad bestoe as Is 
Their portage beggerly. 
Warner, Albion's England, v. 27. 
These two galllons are laden for the king, neither doe 
they carle any particular mans goods, sailing the pttrtaye 
of t h e M arl tiers and souldlers. HaJcluyt'i Voyage*, 1 1. 228. 
3t. Tonnage ; burden of a vessel. 
Their shlppe, ships, harke, plnnesaes, and all other ves- 
sels, of whatsoeuer portage, fiiilkc, uuantitle, or qualltle 
they may be. llalttuiit't Voyayet, I. 271. 
4. The price paid for carriage; freight-charges. 
6. A break in a chain of water-communica- 
tion over which goods, boats, etc., have to be 
carried, as from one lake, river, or canal to an- 
other, or along the banks of rivers round water- 
falls, rapids, or the like; a carry. 
A rumor was spread through the Intrenched camp . . . 
that a chosen detachment of fifteen hundred men was to 
depart, with the dawn, for William Henry, the post at the 
northern extremity of the jmrtaijt. 
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, I. 
Expeditions of the gravest magnitude have not Infre- 
quently depended for their success upon the passage of 
brief portage* from stream to stream, or from sea to sea. 
Harper; Hag., LXXVI. 874. 
portage 2 ! (por'taj), n. [<or2,i., + -age. Cf. 
OF. /, in- in i/i, a fee for admission paid at a gate.] 
An opening; a port or port-hole. 
Let It pry through the portage of the head 
Like the brass cannon. Skat., II. n V., 111. i. 10. 
Portage group. See <jrm, ' . 
Trllls, graces, and a good jx/rfaim-n/o or direction of voice. 
Delia Voile, tr. In Bumey's Hist. Music, IV. 40. 
or gate; an entrance or opening for'pa'ssace ; portancet (por'tans), n. [< porft + -UHCC.] 
Carriage; port; demeanor; air; micu. 
A woman of great worth, 
And by her stately parlance borne of heavenly birth 
Spenter, F. Q., II. ill. 21. 
Through what a grace 
And goodly countenance the rascal speaks! 
What a grave parlance! 3TomJK(?X Albnmazar, Iv. i. 
portant (por'tant), a. [< F. portant, ppr. of 
porter, carry: see porfl.} In her., same as 
portate Cross double portant Same as craw double 
(which see, under CTOIX 
Port Arthur plum. Seeplumi. 
portasst (por'tas), w. [Early mod. E. also jjor- 
tasse, portase, portaee, poi-tux, portesse, portine, 
portal, portuas, portions, portuis, perttwe, por- 
teus,portog, portltoge, < ME. portus, portos, port- 
has, portus, portotts, poortos,itorthous, prop. 
portliors, < OF. porte-horn (ML. portiforium), 
a breviary, < porter, carry (see porft), + horg, 
fors, outside, out, < L. forts, out of doors, 
abroad, < fores, doors : see door.] A breviary; 
a prayer-book. Also called portuary. 
On my porthon I mnke an oath. 
Chaiuxr, Shipnmu's Tale, 1. 130. 
An old priest always read In his pnrtats niumpsimns 
domine for sumpsimus. Camden. 
Almost nothing remalneth In them simple and vncor- 
rupt, as in the usuall portui woont to be read for dallle ser- 
nice is manifest and evident to be scene. 
Foxe, Martyrs, p. 85. 
The friar ready with his portaee there, 
To wed them both. Greene, Friar Bacon. 
Not only clerks, but some lay folks, and those of high 
Portal. West front of Peterborough Cathedral, England. 
specifically, the entire architectural treatment 
of the entrance and its surroundings of a great 
or splendid building, as a cathedral. 
degree, used to cany about with them a purtout, out of 
which their dally wont was to read matins and even-song. 
Jiock, I'hurch of our Fathers, III. il. 143. 
P T/,J&,eld!'i| d POrtate (por'tat), a. [< L. portatwi, pp. of por- 
Kinp Kichard doth himself appear, ? are > calTV : 8eo J'>'< 3 .] I" tier., 
in a position as if being carried. 
See cross portute, under rnw.vl. 
Also portant. 
The portall postes and threshold 
doorcs of halles. 
As doth the blushing discontented sun 
From out the Barf portal of the east. 
Shak., Rich. II., ill. 3. 64. 
The lips that open to this fruit 's a portal 
To let in death, and make immortal mortal. 
Quarles, Emblems, i. 1. 
She. . . gazed through the dusty side lights of thepor- 
tal at the young, blooming, and very cheerful face which 
presented itself for admittance Into the gloomy old man- 
sion. Hatrthome, Seven Gables, Iv. 
portatile (por'ta-til), . [= Sp. 
portdtil = Pg. p'in-ta til, < M L. por- 
tatilis, portable, movable (said of 
crai\*tte. 
bishops without a charge), < L. 
portare, carry : see jor<C] Portable.^ Portatile 
altar, a portable altar. 
On the ground-story of the central compartment [of a portative (por'ta-tiv), n. [X ME. portatifXOF 
transept] there is a great portal, while the aisle ends nsu- (and F.)portatif= It. j>ortatir,,,< L. "nortatinis 
^"^KSSSSSS. Architecture, p. :o, UgS P P .>*4 carry : -e ffR 1.' 
n, A Portable; easily earned. 
2*. A square corner of a room separated from 
(he rest by a wainscot, and forming a short pas- 
sage or vestibule. 
portal 1 (por'tal), n. [< ML. portalis, pertaining 
to a gate (as a noun, a porter), < L. porta, a gate. 
Cf. portal*, H.] In anat.: (ft) Pertaining to 
the hepatic porta, or great transverse fissure of 
the liver, (fc) Pertaining to the vena portee, or 
portal vein Accessory portal veins, a number of 
small veins which collect blood from the areolar tissue 2. Of or pertaining to carrying orthepowerof 
and peritoneal folds around the liver, and discharge into carrying: as, a "portative memory," Kncuc . Brit 
branches of the portal veln.-Portal canals, tubular VTII -7cn .L^l 
passages In the substance of the liver, invested by the 
capsule of ftlisson, and containing each a branch of the 
portal vein, hepatic artery, and hepatic duct Portal 
circulation, the passage of venous blood from the capll- 1B27), < Gr. nopraf, eqniv. to Troprif, a calf.] A 
, 
larles of one organ to those of another before reaching the 
heart. There are two such circulations, through the liver 
and through the kidneys, distinguished as hepatoportal 
and renipmrtal. I )nly the former occurs in man, whence the 
peciflc use of the phrase In reference to this only. In this 
form of portal circulation, the venous blood from the cap- 
illaricsof the stomach, splecn,and Intestine or chylopoietic 
As whanno hit hadde of the folde flesch and Mod ytake, 
Tho was it piirtatyf and pershaunt as the poynt of a nelde. 
I'iers Plowman (C), ii. 164. 
As fer forth . . . as may be shewyd in sosmalan instru. 
ment porfaf(f aboute. Chaucer, Astrolabe, l*rol. 
Its weight and size seem to have originated a distinc- 
tion between portable and stationary organs, which began 
early, and was perpetuated In the terms frequently used of 
"Portative" and "Positive." Qrave't Diet. Murif, II. 675. 
, 
VIII. 780 Portative force of a magnet, 
,c,, 01 me "^-Portative organ. See iwni,arol compare r^. 
ct. Portal Portal (por'taks), n. [NL. (Hamilton Smith, 
>m the capH- 1827), < Or. nopraf, eq 
genus of Bovidse, containing only the nilgau, 
Portax pirtus. This is an Indian antelope, another of 
whose names Is noselaphus tiayocamelus, and which Is also 
known as blue coir (a translation of its native name) and 
blue antelope (a name properly belonging to the African 
blanwbok). See cut under nilgait. 
viscera collectively is 'gathered by the gastric, splenic, and port-bar (port'biir), n. Xaut.: (a) A strong bar 
of oak used to secure the ports in a gale, by 
bracing the closed port on the inside. (6) A 
boom formed of spars or trees lashed together, 
and moored across the entrance of a port to 
prevent entrance or egress, (c) Same as 6ri, 
4(a). 
mcscnteric veins Into a common venous channel, the vena 
portw or portal vein, which conducts It Into the liver. See 
reniportfu, and cuts under embryo and liver. Portal 
fissure. See Juuure. Portal system, the portal vein 
with Its tributaries and Its distributing branches. 
With a dose of cleansing calomel 
Unload the pnrtal tystem (that sounds well !). 
0. W. Uolma, Rip Van Winkle, M. D. port-bit (port 'bit), n. In 
Portal vein, a large, short trunk receiving the blood having a port, or curved mouthpiece. 
harness, any bit 
E. H. 
rui MU will, I;UK' , niiori irnnK receiving me DKHKl 
from the chylopoietic viscera, formed from the union of Kninlit 
the splenic and superior mesenterlc veins. It enters the 
transverse flssure of the liver, where It divides Into a right POrt-CannOHSt (port kan mix), n. pi. In CO8- 
and a left branch, which again subdivide to be distributed tiinn . ornamental nppendnges worn at the 
to the substance of the liver. Also called vena porta or knees. See cuiiiiini 7 
portarum. 
nnrtj>.12i Snmo no ttftrt/mn He walks In his pnrf-ninium* like one that stalks In long 
KmmioS^^K^n. [ItpPg.^r. T 
tamento), carriage, < ML. portamentum, carry- Port-caustic (port kas tik). . A small case, 
ing, carriage, action, < L. portare, carry: see ". 8U8ll . v cylindrical, used for carrying a caus- 
porfl.] In music for the voice or an instru- ' substance in the pocket, or for applying the 
merit of the viol family, a gradual change or ctt '' st "'' 
gliding from one pitch or tone to another with- POrtcluset, . An obsolete form of poj-tntlliti. 
out bn-ak or perceptible step, it Is similar to a POrt-crayon, porte-crayon (port'kra'on), w. 
legato in the first particular, but different from It In the L' * I'"''/' 1 ' i'"i/". \ imi-li i; carry, + rriii/nn, 
second. As an effect, it Is valuable when Judiciously In- pencil: see port 3 and <-riit/<ni.] A holder for 
