Portal

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: por=tal

CIDE DICTIONARY

Portal, n. [OF. portal, F. portail, LL. portale, fr. L. porta a gate. See Port a gate.].

•  A door or gate; hence, a way of entrance or exit, especially one that is grand and imposing.  [1913 Webster]

  "Thick with sparkling orient gems
  The portal shone."  [1913 Webster]

  "From out the fiery portal of the east."  [1913 Webster]
•  The lesser gate, where there are two of different dimensions.  [1913 Webster]
•  The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces.  [1913 Webster]
•  A prayer book or breviary; a portass.  [1913 Webster]

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.

Portal, a. 

 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.  [1913 Webster]
" Portal is applied to other veins which break up into capillaries; as, the renal portal veins in the frog."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Portal, n. a doorway or gate etc., esp. a large and elaborate one.

Portal, adj.
1 of or relating to an aperture in an organ through which its associated vessels pass.
2 of or relating to the portal vein.

Idiom

portal vein a vein conveying blood to the liver from the spleen, stomach, pancreas, and intestines.

Etymology

mod.L portalis f. L porta gate

THESAURUS

Portal

French door, archway, back door, barway, bulkhead, carriage entrance, cellar door, cellarway, door, doorjamb, doorpost, doorway, entrance, entrance hall, entranceway, entry, entryway, foyer, front door, galilee, gate, gatepost, gateway, hatch, hatchway, lintel, lobby, narthex, porch, porte cochere, portico, postern, propylaeum, pylon, scuttle, side door, stile, stoa, storm door, threshold, tollgate, trap, trap door, turnpike, turnstile, vestibule

ROGET THESAURUS

Portal

Beginning

N beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation, introduction, alpha, initial, inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain, maiden speech, outbreak, onset, brunt, initiative, move, first move, narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge, fresh start, new departure, origin, source, rise, bud, germ, egg, rudiment, genesis, primogenesis, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy, start, inception, creation, starting point, dawn, evolution, title-page, head, heading, van, caption, fatihah, entrance, entry, inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon, door, gate, gateway, postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule, propylaeum, skirts, border, first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight, rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, ABC, beginning, initial, initiatory, initiative, inceptive, introductory, incipient, proemial, inaugural, inchoate, inchoative, embryonic, rudimental, primogenial, primeval, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, natal, nascent, first, foremost, leading, maiden, begun, just begun, at the beginning, in the beginning first, in the first place, imprimis, first and foremost, in limine, in the bud, in embryo, in its infancy, from the beginning, from its birth, ab initio, ab ovo, ab incunabilis, ab origine, let's get going!, let's get this show on the road!, up and at 'em!, aller Anfang ist schwer, dimidium facti qui coepit habet, omnium rerum principia parva sunt.

Edge

N edge, verge, brink, brow, brim, margin, border, confine, skirt, rim, flange, side, mouth, jaws, chops, chaps, fauces, lip, muzzle, threshold, door, porch, portal, coast, shore, frame, fringe, flounce, frill, list, trimming, edging, skirting, hem, selvedge, welt, furbelow, valance, gimp, border, marginal, skirting, labial, labiated, marginated.

Opening

N opening, hole, foramen, puncture, perforation, fontanel, transforation, pinhole, keyhole, loophole, porthole, peephole, mousehole, pigeonhole, eye of a needle, eyelet, slot, opening, aperture, apertness, hiation, yawning, oscitancy, dehiscence, patefaction, pandiculation, chasm, embrasure, window, casement, abatjour, light, sky light, fan light, lattice, bay window, bow window, oriel, dormer, lantern, outlet, inlet, vent, vomitory, embouchure, orifice, mouth, sucker, muzzle, throat, gullet, weasand, wizen, nozzle, placket, portal, porch, gate, ostiary, postern, wicket, trapdoor, hatch, door, arcade, cellarway, driveway, gateway, doorway, hatchway, gangway, lich gate, way, path, thoroughfare, channel, passage, passageway, tube, pipe, water pipe, air pipe, vessel, tubule, canal, gut, fistula, adjutage, ajutage, ostium, smokestack, chimney, flue, tap, funnel, gully, tunnel, main, mine, pit, adit, shaft, gallery, alley, aisle, glade, vista, bore, caliber, pore, blind orifice, fulgurite, thundertube, porousness, porosity, sieve, cullender, colander, cribble, riddle, screen, honeycomb, apertion, perforation, piercing, terebration, empalement, pertusion, puncture, acupuncture, penetration, key, opener, master key, password, combination, passe- partout, open, perforated, perforate, wide open, ajar, unclosed, unstopped, oscitant, gaping, yawning, patent, tubular, cannular, fistulous, pervious, permeable, foraminous, vesicular, vasicular, porous, follicular, cribriform, honeycombed, infundibular, riddled, tubulous, tubulated, piped, tubate, opening, aperient, Int, open sesame!.