Definition of "portcullis" [port•cul•lis]

• A grating of iron or wooden bars or slats, suspended in the gateway of a fortified place and lowered to block passage. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Duke of York in every severy, and with crowned roses and portcullis alternating with each other, intimating that, as the portcullis was the second defence of a fortress when the gate was broken down, so he had a second claim to the crown through his mother, daughter of John de"
• "Behind the portcullis was a thick oaken door studded with steel."
• "The gateway had what is called a portcullis; that is, a heavy iron gate suspended by chains, so as to rise and fall."