Por"tal (?), a.
(Anat.) Of or
pertaining to a porta, especially the porta of
the liver; as, the portal vein, which enters the liver at the
porta, and divides into capillaries after the manner of
an artery.
&fist; Portal is applied to other veins which break up into
capillaries; as, the renal portal veins in the frog.
Por"tal (?), n. [OF. portal, F. portail, LL. portale, fr. L. porta a
gate. See Port a gate.]
1. A
door or gate; hence, a
way of entrance or exit, especially one that is grand and imposing.
Thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone.
Milton. From out the fiery
portal of the east.
Shak. 2. (Arch.)
(a) The lesser gate, where there are two of different dimensions. (b) Formerly, a small square corner in a room
separated from the rest of the apartment by wainscoting, forming a short passage to another apartment.
(c) By analogy with the French portail, used
by recent writers for the whole
architectural composition which
surrounds and includes the
doorways and porches of a church.
3. (Bridge Building) The space, at one
end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces.
4. A prayer book or breviary; a portass. [Obs.]
Portal bracing
(Bridge Building),
a combination of struts and ties which lie in
the plane of the inclined braces at a portal, serving to transfer wind pressure from the upper parts of the trusses to
an abutment or pier of the bridge.
Hear it pronounced