portcullis Hear it!

portcullis definition

port·cul·lis (pôrt kul′is)

noun

a heavy iron grating suspended by chains and lowered between grooves to bar the gateway of a castle or fortified town

Etymology: ME portcoles < MFr porte coleïce < porte, gate + coleïce, fem. of coleis, sliding < L colare, to strain, filter

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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