portal Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun a grand and imposing entrance (often extended metaphorically)
- the portals of the cathedral
- the portals of heaven
- the portals of success
noun a site that the owner positions as an entrance to other sites on the internet
portal site.
- a portal typically has search engines and free email and chat rooms etc.
noun a short vein that carries blood into the liver
portal vein; vena portae; hepatic portal vein.

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.
Thick with sparkling orient gems The portal shone. Milton.

From out the fiery portal of the east. Shak.
(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.
(Bridge Building) The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces.
A prayer book or breviary; a portass. Obs.

(Anat.) 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. ✍ Portal is applied to other veins which break up into capillaries; as, the renal portal veins in the frog.