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portcullis

   Also found in: Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
port·cul·lis  (pôrt-kls, prt-)
n.
A grating of iron or wooden bars or slats, suspended in the gateway of a fortified place and lowered to block passage.
[Middle English port-colice, from Old French porte coleice, sliding gate : porte, gate (from Latin porta; see per-2 in Indo-European roots) + coleice, feminine of coleis, sliding (from Vulgar Latin *cltcius, from Latin cltus, past participle of clre, to filter, strain, from clum, sieve).]
portcullis
Noun
an iron grating suspended in a castle gateway, that can be lowered to bar the entrance [Old French porte coleïce sliding gate]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.portcullisportcullis - gate consisting of an iron or wooden grating that hangs in the entry to a castle or fortified town; can be lowered to prevent passage
gate - a movable barrier in a fence or wall
Translations
portcullis [pɔːtˈkʌlɪs] n → rastrillo
portcullis [pɔːtˈkʌlɪs] n → herse f
portcullis [pɔːtˈkʌlɪs] n → Fallgitter nt
portcullis [pɔːtˈkʌlɪs] n → saracinesca


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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
Some thirty minutes later five hundred iron clad horses carried their mailed riders beneath the portcullis of the grim pile, and Norman the Devil, riding at their head, spurred rapidly in the direction of the castle of Peter of Colfax.
The Outlaw of Torn by Burroughs, Edgar Rice View in context
Celluloid teeth, nine dollars a set, as like as not -- the loose-fit kind, that go up and down like a portcullis when you eat, and fall out when you laugh.
A Connecticut Yankee by Twain, Mark View in context
They dismounted at a hostelry which Don Quixote recognised as such and did not take to be a castle with moat, turrets, portcullis, and drawbridge; for ever since he had been vanquished he talked more rationally about everything, as will be shown presently.
Don Quixote by Cervantes, Miguel View in context
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