portcullis
pronunciation
How to pronounce portcullis in British English:
UK [pɔ:tˈkʌlɪs]
How to pronounce portcullis in American English:
US [pɔrtˈkʌlɪs]
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- Noun:
- 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
Word Origin
- portcullis
- portcullis: [14] A portcullis is etymologically a ‘sliding door’. The word comes from Old French porte coleïce, a term made up of porte ‘door’ (source of English port, as in porthole) and coleïce ‘sliding’. This was a derivative of the verb couler ‘slide’, which came ultimately from Latin cōlum ‘sieve’ (source of English colander [14]).=> colander, porch, port, portico
- portcullis (n.)
- also port-cullis, c. 1300, from Old French porte coleice "sliding gate" (c. 1200, Modern French porte à coulisse), from porte "gate" (see port (n.2)) + coleice "sliding, flowing," fem. of coleis, from Latin colatus, past participle of colare "to filter, strain" (see colander).
Example
- 1. Begging him to leave this terrible place , she breaks away just in time before the rapidly closing portcullis closes in on her .
- 2. After the barrels are eventually stopped at a gate , which is something that doesn \'t happen in the books , Kili attempts to raise the portcullis and is shot with a poison arrow from an orc .