portas

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

By God and by this porthors I you swear. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

From out the fiery portal of the east. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bridge Building) The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A prayer book or breviary; a portass. [ Obs. ] [ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]