Portcullis Definition
pôrt-kŭlĭs
noun
A heavy iron grating suspended by chains and lowered between grooves to bar the gateway of a castle or fortified town.
Webster's New World
verb
To obstruct with, or as with, a portcullis; to shut; to bar.
Wiktionary
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
Wiktionary
Other Word Forms of Portcullis
Noun
Singular:
portcullis
Plural:
portcullisesOrigin of Portcullis
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Middle English port-colice from Old French porte coleice sliding gate porte gate (from Latin porta per-2 in Indo-European roots) coleice feminine of coleis sliding (from Vulgar Latin cōlātīcius) (from Latin cōlātus) (past participle of cōlāre to filter, strain) (from cōlum sieve)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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From Anglo-Norman porte coliz and Old French porte coulëice, from porte (“door") + feminine of colëis (“sliding"), from couler (“to flow").
From Wiktionary
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