Defn: To carry (goods, boats, etc.) overland between navigable waters.
PORTAGE GROUP
Por"tage group`. Etym: [So called from the township of Portage in New
York.] (Geol.)
Defn: A subdivision of the Chemung period in American geology. See
Chart of Geology.
PORTAGUE
Por"ta*gue, n. Etym: [See Portuguese.]
Defn: A Portuguese gold coin formerly current, and variously estimated to be worth from three and one half to four and one half pounds sterling. [Obs.] [Written also portegue and portigue.] Ten thousand portagues, besides great pearls. Marlowe.
PORTAL Por"tal, n. Etym: [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)
Defn: The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces.