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.