Chapter 57

Po"rism (?), n. [Gr. &?; a thing procured, a deduction from a demonstration, fr. &?; to bring, provide: cf. F. porisme.] 1. (Geom.) A proposition affirming the possibility of finding such conditions as will render a certain determinate problem indeterminate or capable of innumerable solutions. Playfair.

2. (Gr. Geom.) A corollary. Brande & C.

Three books of porisms of Euclid have been lost, but several attempts to determine the nature of these propositions and to restore them have been made by modern geometers.

{ Po`ris*mat"ic (?), Po`ris*mat"ic*al (?), } a. Of or pertaining to a porism; poristic.

{ Po*ris"tic (?), Po*ris"tic*al (?), } a.[Gr. &?; for providing, &?; provided.] Of or pertaining to a porism; of the nature of a porism.

Po"rite (?), n. [Cf. F. porite. See Pore, n.] (Zoˆl.) Any coral of the genus Porites, or family PoritidÊ.

||Po*ri"tes (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. po`ros a pore.] (Zoˆl.) An important ||genus of reef-building corals having small twelve-rayed calicles, and ||a very porous coral. Some species are branched, others grow in large ||massive or globular forms.

Pork (?), n. [F. porc, L. porcus hog, pig. See Farrow a litter of pigs, and cf. Porcelain, Porpoise.] The flesh of swine, fresh or salted, used for food.

Pork"er (?), n. A hog. Pope.

Pork"et (?), n. [Dim. of F. porc. See Pork.] A young hog; a pig. [R.] Dryden. W. Howitt.

Pork"ling (?), n. A pig; a porket. Tusser.

Pork"wood` (?), n. (Bot.) The coarse-grained brownish yellow wood of a small tree (Pisonia obtusata) of Florida and the West Indies. Also called pigeon wood, beefwood, and corkwood.

Por`ne*ras"tic (?), a. [Gr. &?; harlot + &?; to love.] Lascivious; licentious. [R.] F. Harrison.

Por`no*graph"ic (?), a. Of or pertaining to pornography; lascivious; licentious; as, pornographic writing.

Por*nog"ra*phy (?), n. [Gr. &?; a harlot + -graphy.] 1. Licentious painting or literature; especially, the painting anciently employed to decorate the walls of rooms devoted to bacchanalian orgies.

2. (Med.) A treatise on prostitutes, or prostitution.

Po*ros"i*ty (?), n. [Cf. F. porositÈ.] The quality or state of being porous; -- opposed to density.

Po*rot"ic (?), n. [Gr. &?; callus.] (Med.) A medicine supposed to promote the formation of callus.

Por"ous (?), a. [Cf. F. poreux. See Pore, n.] Full of pores; having interstices in the skin or in the substance of the body; having spiracles or passages for fluids; permeable by liquids; as, a porous skin; porous wood. "The veins of porous earth." Milton.

Por"ous*ly, adv. In a porous manner.

Por"ous*ness, n. 1. The quality of being porous.

2. The open parts; the interstices of anything. [R.]

They will forcibly get into the porousness of it.

Sir K. Digby.

Por"pen*tine (?), n. Porcupine. [Obs.] Shak.

Por"pesse (?), n. A porpoise. [Obs.]

Por`phy*ra"ceous (?), a. Porphyritic.

Por"phyre (?), n. Porphyry. [Obs.] Locke.

Por"phy*rite (?), n. (Min.) A rock with a porphyritic structure; as, augite porphyrite.

Por`phy*rit"ic (?), a. [Cf. F. porphyritique.] (Min.) Relating to, or resembling, porphyry, that is, characterized by the presence of distinct crystals, as of feldspar, quartz, or augite, in a relatively fine-grained base, often aphanitic or cryptocrystalline.

Por`phy*ri*za"tion (?), n. The act of porphyrizing, or the state of being porphyrized.

Por`phy*rize (?), v. t. [Cf. F. porphyriser, Gr. &?; to purplish.] To cause to resemble porphyry; to make spotted in composition, like porphyry.

Por`phy*ro*gen"i*tism (?), n. [LL. porphyro genitus, fr. Gr. &?;; &?; purple + root of &?; to be born.] The principle of succession in royal families, especially among the Eastern Roman emperors, by which a younger son, if born after the accession of his father to the throne, was preferred to an elder son who was not so born. Sir T. Palgrave.

Por"phy*ry (?), n.; pl. Porphyries (#). [F. porphyre, L. porphyrites, fr. Gr. &?; like purple, fr. &?; purple. See Purple.] (Geol.) A term used somewhat loosely to designate a rock consisting of a fine-grained base (usually feldspathic) through which crystals, as of feldspar or quartz, are disseminated. There are red, purple, and green varieties, which are highly esteemed as marbles.

Porphyry shell (Zoˆl.), a handsome marine gastropod shell (Oliva porphyria), having a dark red or brown polished surface, marked with light spots, like porphyry.

||Por"pi*ta (?), n. [NL., from Gr. &?; brooch.] (Zoˆl.) A genus of ||bright-colored Siphonophora found floating in the warmer parts of the ||ocean. The individuals are round and disk-shaped, with a large zooid ||in the center of the under side, surrounded by smaller nutritive and ||reproductive zooids, and by slender dactylozooids near the margin. ||The disk contains a central float, or pneumatocyst.

Por"poise (?), n. [OE. porpeys, OF. porpeis, literally, hog fish, from L. porcus swine + piscis fish. See Pork, and Fish.] 1. (Zoˆl.) Any small cetacean of the genus PhocÊna, especially P. communis, or P. phocÊna, of Europe, and the closely allied American species (P. Americana). The color is dusky or blackish above, paler beneath. They are closely allied to the dolphins, but have a shorter snout. Called also harbor porpoise, herring hag, puffing pig, and snuffer.

2. (Zoˆl.) A true dolphin (Delphinus); -- often so called by sailors.

Skunk porpoise, or Bay porpoise (Zoˆl.), a North American porpoise (Lagenorhynchus acutus), larger than the common species, and with broad stripes of white and yellow on the sides. See Illustration in Appendix.

||Por`po*ri"no (?), n. [It.] A composition of quicksilver, tin, and ||sulphur, forming a yellow powder, sometimes used by mediÊval artists, ||for the sake of economy, instead of gold. Fairholt.

Por"pus (?), n. A porpoise. [Obs.] Swift.

Por*ra"ceous (?), a. [L. porraceus, from porrum, porrus, a leek.] Resembling the leek in color; greenish. [R.] "Porraceous vomiting." Wiseman.

Por*rect" (?), a. [L. porrectus, p. p. of porrigere to stretch out before one's self, to but forth.] Extended horizontally; stretched out.

Por*rec"tion (?), n. [L. porrectio: cf. F. porrection.] The act of stretching forth.

Por"ret (?), n. [F. porrette, fr. L. porrum, porrus, leek. See Porraceous.] A scallion; a leek or small onion. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Por"ridge (?), n. [Probably corrupted fr. pottage; perh. influenced by OE. porree a kind of pottage, OF. porrÈe, fr. L. porrum, porrus, leek. See Pottage, and cf. Porringer.] A food made by boiling some leguminous or farinaceous substance, or the meal of it, in water or in milk, making of broth or thin pudding; as, barley porridge, milk porridge, bean porridge, etc.

Por"rin*ger (?), n. [OE. pottanger, for pottager; cf. F. potager a soup basin. See Porridge.] A porridge dish; esp., a bowl or cup from which children eat or are fed; as, a silver porringer. Wordsworth.

Port (?), n. [From Oporto, in Portugal, i. e., &?; porto the port, L. portus. See Port harbor.] A dark red or purple astringent wine made in Portugal. It contains a large percentage of alcohol.

Port, n. [AS. port, L. portus: cf. F. port. See Farm, v., Ford, and 1st, 3d, & 4h Port.] 1. A place where ships may ride secure from storms; a sheltered inlet, bay, or cove; a harbor; a haven. Used also figuratively.

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Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads.

Shak.

We are in port if we have Thee.

Keble.

2. In law and commercial usage, a harbor where vessels are admitted to discharge and receive cargoes, from whence they depart and where they finish their voyages.

Free port. See under Free. -- Port bar. (Naut,) (a) A boom. See Boom, 4, also Bar, 3. (b) A bar, as of sand, at the mouth of, or in, a port. -- Port charges (Com.), charges, as wharfage, etc., to which a ship or its cargo is subjected in a harbor. -- Port of entry, a harbor where a customhouse is established for the legal entry of merchandise. -- Port toll (Law), a payment made for the privilege of bringing goods into port. -- Port warden, the officer in charge of a port; a harbor master.

Port (?), n. [F. porte, L. porta, akin to portus; cf. AS. porte, fr. L. porta. See Port a harbor, and cf. Porte.] 1. A passageway; an opening or entrance to an inclosed place; a gate; a door; a portal. [Archaic]

Him I accuse The city ports by this hath entered.

Shak.

Form their ivory port the cherubim Forth issuing.

Milton.

2. (Naut.) An opening in the side of a vessel; an embrasure through which cannon may be discharged; a porthole; also, the shutters which close such an opening.

Her ports being within sixteen inches of the water.

Sir W. Raleigh.

3. (Mach.) A passageway in a machine, through which a fluid, as steam, water, etc., may pass, as from a valve to the interior of the cylinder of a steam engine; an opening in a valve seat, or valve face.

Air port, Bridle port, etc. See under Air, Bridle, etc. -- Port bar (Naut.), a bar to secure the ports of a ship in a gale. -- Port lid (Naut.), a lid or hanging for closing the portholes of a vessel. -- Steam port, &and; Exhaust port (Steam Engine), the ports of the cylinder communicating with the valve or valves, for the entrance or exit of the steam, respectively.

Port, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ported; p. pr. & vb. n. Porting.] [F. porter, L. portare to carry. See Port demeanor.] 1. To carry; to bear; to transport. [Obs.]

They are easily ported by boat into other shires.

Fuller.

2. (Mil.) To throw, as a musket, diagonally across the body, with the lock in front, the right hand grasping the small of the stock, and the barrel sloping upward and crossing the point of the left shoulder; as, to port arms.

Began to hem him round with ported spears.

Milton.

Port arms, a position in the manual of arms, executed as above.

Port, n. [F. port, fr. porter to carry, L. portare, prob. akin to E. fare, v. See Port harbor, and cf. Comport, Export, Sport.] The manner in which a person bears himself; deportment; carriage; bearing; demeanor; hence, manner or style of living; as, a proud port. Spenser.

And of his port as meek as is a maid.

Chaucer.

The necessities of pomp, grandeur, and a suitable port in the world.

South.

Port, n. [Etymology uncertain.] (Naut.) The larboard or left side of a ship (looking from the stern toward the bow); as, a vessel heels to port. See Note under Larboard. Also used adjectively.

Port, v. t. (Naut.) To turn or put to the left or larboard side of a ship; -- said of the helm, and used chiefly in the imperative, as a command; as, port your helm.

||Por"ta (?), n.; pl. PortÊ (#). [L., a gate. See Port a hole.] (Anat.) ||(a) The part of the liver or other organ where its vessels and nerves ||enter; the hilus. (b) The foramen of Monro. B. G. Wilder.

Port`a*bil"i*ty (?), n. The quality or state of being portable; fitness to be carried.

Port"a*ble (?), a. [L. portabilis, fr. portare to carry: cf. F. portable. See Port demeanor.] 1. Capable of being borne or carried; easily transported; conveyed without difficulty; as, a portable bed, desk, engine. South.

2. Possible to be endured; supportable. [Obs.]

How light and portable my pain seems now!

Shak.

Portable forge. See under Forge. -- Portable steam engine. See under Steam engine.

Port"a*ble*ness, n. The quality or state of being portable; portability.

Por"tace (?; 48), n. See Portass. [Obs.]

Port"age (?; 48), n. [From 2d Port.] (Naut.) (a) A sailor's wages when in port. (b) The amount of a sailor's wages for a voyage.

Port"age, n. [3d Port.] A porthole. [Obs.] Shak.

Por"tage (?), n. [F., from porter to carry. See Port to carry.] 1. The act of carrying or transporting.

2. The price of carriage; porterage. Bp. Fell.

3. Capacity for carrying; tonnage. [Obs.] Hakluyt.

4. A carry between navigable waters. See 3d Carry.

Por"tage (?), v. t. & i. To carry (goods, boats, etc.) overland between navigable waters.

Por"tage group` (?). [So called from the township of Portage in New York.] (Geol.) A subdivision of the Chemung period in American geology. See Chart of Geology.

Por"ta*gue (?), n. [See Portuguese.] A Portuguese gold coin formerly current, and variously estimated to be worth from three and one half to four and one half pounds sterling. [Obs.] [Written also portegue and portigue.]

Ten thousand portagues, besides great pearls.

Marlowe.

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.

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.

Portal is applied to other veins which break up into capillaries; as, the renal portal veins in the frog.

||Por`ta*men"to (?), n. [It., fr. portare to carry.] (Mus.) In singing, ||or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice ||or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone ||to tone.

Por"tance (?), n. See Port, carriage, demeanor. [Obs.] Spenser. Shak.

Por"tass (?), n. [OF. porte-hors a kind of prayer book, so called from being portable; cf. LL. portiforium.] A breviary; a prayer book. [Written variously portace, portasse, portesse, portise, porthose, portos, portus, portuse, etc.] [Obs.] Spenser. Camden.

By God and by this porthors I you swear.

Chaucer.

Por"tate (?), a. [L. portatus, p. p. of portare to carry.] (Her.) Borne not erect, but diagonally athwart an escutcheon; as, a cross portate.

Por"ta*tive (?), a. [Cf. F. portatif.] 1. Portable. [Obs.]

2. (Physics) Capable of holding up or carrying; as, the portative force of a magnet, of atmospheric pressure, or of capillarity.

Port"cluse (?), n. A portcullis. [Obs.]

Port`cray"on (?), n. [F. porte- crayon; porter to carry + crayon a crayon.] A metallic handle with a clasp for holding a crayon.

Port*cul"lis (?), n. [OF. porte coulisse, coleÔce, a sliding door, fr. L. colare, colatum, to filter, to strain: cf. F. couler to glide. See Port a gate, and cf. Cullis, Colander.] 1. (Fort.) A grating of iron or of timbers pointed with iron, hung over the gateway of a fortress, to be let down to prevent the entrance of an enemy. "Let the portcullis fall." Sir W. Scott.

She . . . the huge portcullis high updrew.

Milton.

2. An English coin of the reign of Elizabeth, struck for the use of the East India Company; -- so called from its bearing the figure of a portcullis on the reverse.

Port*cul"lis, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portcullised (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Portcullising.] To obstruct with, or as with, a portcullis; to shut; to bar. [R.] Shak.

Porte (?), n. [F. porte a gate, L. porta. See Port a gate.] The Ottoman court; the government of the Turkish empire, officially called the Sublime Porte, from the gate (port) of the sultan's palace at which justice was administered.

||Porte"-co`chËre" (?), n. [F. See Port a gate, and Coach.] (Arch.) A ||large doorway allowing vehicles to drive into or through a building. ||It is common to have the entrance door open upon the passage of the ||porte-cochËre. Also, a porch over a driveway before an entrance door.

Port"ed (?), a. Having gates. [Obs.]

We took the sevenfold-ported Thebes.

Chapman.

Por"te*gue (?), n. See Portague. [Obs.]

Porte"mon*naie` (?), n. [F., fr. porter to carry + monnaie money.] A small pocketbook or wallet for carrying money.

Por*tend" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portended; p. pr. & vb. n. Portending.] [L. portendre, portentum, to foretell, to predict, to impend, from an old preposition used in comp. + tendere to stretch. See Position, Tend.] 1. To indicate (events, misfortunes, etc.) as in future; to foreshow; to foretoken; to bode; -- now used esp. of unpropitious signs. Bacon.

Many signs portended a dark and stormy day.

Macaulay.

2. To stretch out before. [R.] "Doomed to feel the great Idomeneus' portended steel." Pope.

Syn. -- To foreshow; foretoken; betoken; forebode; augur; presage; foreshadow; threaten.

Por*ten"sion (?), n. The act of foreshowing; foreboding. [R.] Sir T. Browne.

Por*tent" (?; 277), n. [L. portentum. See Portend.] That which portends, or foretoken; esp., that which portends evil; a sign of coming calamity; an omen; a sign. Shak.

My loss by dire portents the god foretold.

Dryden.

Por*tent"ive (?), a. Presaging; foreshadowing.

Por*tent"ous (?), a. [L. portentosus.] 1. Of the nature of a portent; containing portents; foreshadowing, esp. foreshadowing ill; ominous.

For, I believe, they are portentous things.

Shak.

Victories of strange and almost portentous splendor.

Macaulay.

2. Hence: Monstrous; prodigious; wonderful; dreadful; as, a beast of portentous size. Roscommon.

-- Por*tent"ous*ly, adv. -- Por*tent"ous*ness, n.

Por"ter (?), n. [F. portier, L. portarius, from porta a gate, door. See Port a gate.] A man who has charge of a door or gate; a doorkeeper; one who waits at the door to receive messages. Shak.

To him the porter openeth.

John x. 3.

Por"ter, n. [F. porteur, fr. porter to carry, L. portare. See Port to carry.] 1. A carrier; one who carries or conveys burdens, luggage, etc.; for hire.

2. (Forging) A bar of iron or steel at the end of which a forging is made; esp., a long, large bar, to the end of which a heavy forging is attached, and by means of which the forging is lifted and handled in hammering and heating; -- called also porter bar.

3. A malt liquor, of a dark color and moderately bitter taste, possessing tonic and intoxicating qualities.

Porter is said to be so called as having been first used chiefly by the London porters, and this application of the word is supposed to be not older than 1750.

Por"ter*age (?), n. 1. The work of a porter; the occupation of a carrier or of a doorkeeper.

2. Money charged or paid for the carriage of burdens or parcels by a porter.

Por"ter*ess, n. See Portress.

Por"ter*house, n. A house where porter is sold.

Porterhouse steak, a steak cut from a sirloin of beet, including the upper and under part.

Por"tesse (?), n. See Porteass. [Obs.] Tyndale.

Port"fire` (?), n. A case of strong paper filled with a composition of niter, sulphur, and mealed powder, -- used principally to ignite the priming in proving guns, and as an incendiary material in shells.

Port*fol"io (?), n. [F. portefeuille; porter to carry + feuille a leaf. See Port to carry, and Folio.] 1. A portable case for holding loose papers, prints, drawings, etc.

2. Hence: The office and functions of a minister of state or member of the cabinet; as, to receive the portfolio of war; to resign the portfolio.

Port"glave (?), n. [F. porte- glaive; porter to carry + glaive a sword.] A sword bearer. [Obs.]

{ Port"greve` (?), Port"grave` (?), }[AS. portgerfa; port a harbor + gerfa a reeve or sheriff. See Reeve a steward, and cf. Portreeve.] In old English law, the chief magistrate of a port or maritime town.; a portreeve. [Obs.] Fabyan.

Port"hole` (?), n. (Naut.) An embrasure in a ship's side. See 3d Port.

Port"hook` (?), n. (Naut.) One of the iron hooks to which the port hinges are attached. J. Knowles.

Port"hors` (?), n. See Portass. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Por"ti*co, n.; pl. Porticoes (#) or Porticos. [It., L. porticus. See Porch.] (Arch.) A colonnade or covered ambulatory, especially in classical styles of architecture; usually, a colonnade at the entrance of a building.

Por"ti*coed (?), a. Furnished with a portico.

||Por`tiËre"" (?), n. [F., fr. porte gate, door. See Port a gate.] A ||curtain hanging across a doorway.

Por"ti*gue (?), n. See Portague. Beau. & Fl.

Por"tin*gal (?), a. Of or pertaining to Portugal; Portuguese. [Obs.] -- n. A Portuguese. [Obs.]

Por"tion (?), n. [F., from L. portio, akin to pars, partis, a part. See Part, n.] 1. That which is divided off or separated, as a part from a whole; a separated part of anything.

2. A part considered by itself, though not actually cut off or separated from the whole.

These are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is heard of him!

Job xxvi. 14.

Portions and parcels of the dreadful past.

Tennyson.

3. A part assigned; allotment; share; fate.

The lord of that servant . . . will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

Luke xii. 46.

Man's portion is to die and rise again.

Keble.

4. The part of an estate given to a child or heir, or descending to him by law, and distributed to him in the settlement of the estate; an inheritance.

Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

Luke xv. 12.

5. A wife's fortune; a dowry. Shak.

Syn. -- Division; share; parcel; quantity; allotment; dividend. -- Portion, Part. Part is generic, having a simple reference to some whole. Portion has the additional idea of such a division as bears reference to an individual, or is allotted to some object; as, a portion of one's time; a portion of Scripture.

Por"tion, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Portioned (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Portioning.] 1. To separate or divide into portions or shares; to parcel; to distribute.

And portion to his tribes the wide domain.

Pope.

2. To endow with a portion or inheritance.

Him portioned maids, apprenticed orphans, blest.

Pope.

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Por"tion*er (?), n. 1. One who portions.

2. (Eccl.) See Portionist, 2.

Por"tion*ist (?), n. 1. A scholar at Merton College, Oxford, who has a certain academical allowance or portion; -- corrupted into postmaster. Shipley.

2. (Eccl.) One of the incumbents of a benefice which has two or more rectors or vicars.

Por"tion*less, a. Having no portion.

Por"tise (?), n. See Portass. [Obs.]

Port"land ce*ment" (?). A cement having the color of the Portland stone of England, made by calcining an artificial mixture of carbonate of lime and clay, or sometimes certain natural limestones or chalky clays. It contains a large proportion of clay, and hardens under water.

Port"land stone" (?). A yellowish-white calcareous freestone from the Isle of Portland in England, much used in building.

Port"land vase` (?). A celebrated cinerary urn or vase found in the tomb of the Emperor Alexander Severus. It is owned by the Duke of Portland, and kept in the British Museum.

Port"last (?), n. (Naut.) The portoise. See Portoise.

Port"li*ness (?), n. 1. The quality or state of being portly; dignity of mien or of personal appearance; stateliness.

Such pride is praise; such portliness is honor.

Spenser.

2. Bulkiness; corpulence.

Port"ly, a. [From Port demeanor.] 1. Having a dignified port or mien; of a noble appearance; imposing.

2. Bulky; corpulent. "A portly personage." Dickens.

Port"man (?), n.; pl. Portmen (&?;). An inhabitant or burgess of a port, esp. of one of the Cinque Ports.

Port*man"teau (?), n.; pl. Portmanteaus (#). [F. porte-manteau; porter to carry + manteau a cloak, mantle. See Port to carry, and Mantle.] A bag or case, usually of leather, for carrying wearing apparel, etc., on journeys. Thackeray.

Port*man"tle (?), n. A portmanteau. [Obs.]

Port"mote` (?), n. In old English law, a court, or mote, held in a port town. [Obs.] Blackstone.