25 May 2018

portcullis

[pawrt-kuhl-is, pohrt-]

noun

1. (especially in medieval castles) a strong grating, as of iron, made to slide along vertical grooves at the sides of a gateway of a fortified place and let down to prevent passage.

Origin of portcullis

Middle English, Middle French

1300-1350; Middle English portecolys < Middle French porte coleice, equivalent to porte port4+ coleice, feminine of coleis flowing, sliding < Vulgar Latin *cōlātīcius; see coulee, -itious

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for portcullis

Historical Examples

When Corkran got to his portcullis, he thought he’d reached the reward of his labours.
It Happened in Egypt
C. N. Williamson

Bid the varlets lower the draw-bridge and raise the portcullis.
The Nebuly Coat
John Meade Falkner

Turning, they wished to flee into the castle and pull down the portcullis.
King Arthur’s Knights
Henry Gilbert

Anagram

citrus poll
pilot curls

Today’s quote

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.

– Douglas Adams

On this day

25 May – Towel Day. A tribute to Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, which states that a towel is ‘about the most massively useful thing that an interstellar hitchhiker can have‘. First held in 2001, two weeks after the death of Adams. Fans carry a towel with them on this day in appreciation of Adams and his work.

25 May 1999 – Bill Morgan, who had been resuscitated after spending 14 minutes clinically dead following a heart-attack, wins a $27,000 car from a Tatts Scratch lotto ticket. During a reenactment of the event for a Melbourne TV station, Bill won $250,000 from a Scratch-It ticket. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBYuxQBSc0o