portcullis

English

A portcullis in Stirling, Scotland

In heraldry, as in the arms of Westminster, portcullises are often depicted with chains attached.

Alternative forms

• percullice (archaic)
• portclose (archaic)
• portcluse (obsolete)
• portculis (rare)
• portculleis (archaic)
• portculles (archaic)
• port cullis, port-cullis (archaic)
• portecullis, porte-cullis (rare)

Etymology

From Middle English portcolyse, from Old French porte colëice, from porte (“door”) + feminine of colëiz (“sliding”), ultimately from Latin colāre.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /pɔːtˈkʌl.ɪs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /pɔɹtˈkʌl.ɪs/

Noun

portcullis (plural portcullises or portcullisses or (rare) portculli or (rare) portscullis)

1. A gate in the form of a grating which is lowered into place at the entrance to a castle, fort, etc.
2. (historical) An old English coin from the reign of Elizabeth I, minted for the use of the East India Company, and bearing the picture of a portcullis on the reverse.

Translations

gate in the form of a grating

• Belarusian: ге́рса f (hjérsa)
• Bulgarian: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: padací mříž (cs) f
• Danish: faldgitter
• Dutch: valhek (nl) n, valpoort (nl) f
• Esperanto: herso (eo)
• French: herse (fr) f
• German: Fallgatter (de) n
• Hebrew: שער מתרומם m
• Hungarian: hullórostély
• Italian: inferriata (it) f, saracinesca (it) f
• Polish: brona (pl) f
• Portuguese: grade levadiça f, rastrilho m
• Russian: воро́та подъёмной решётки n pl (voróta podʺjómnoj rešótki), воро́та крепостны́е n pl (voróta krepostnýje), опускна́я решётка f (opusknája rešótka)
• Slovene: dvižna vrata n pl
• Spanish: rastrillo (es) m
• Swedish: fällgaller n
• Thai: ประตูชัก (bprà-dtuu-chák)
• Turkish: tarla sürgüsü
• Ukrainian: герса f (hersa)

Verb

portcullis (third-person singular simple present portcullises or portcullisses, present participle portcullising or portcullissing, simple past and past participle portcullised or portcullissed)

1. (usually passive) To obstruct with, or as with, a portcullis; to shut; to bar.
   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     […] Within my mouth you haue engaold my tongue, / Doubly portculliſt with my teeth and lippes […]

References

• “portcullis”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Further reading

• portcullis on Wikipedia.Wikipedia