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