Portcullis (noun)
port-kul-is
A strong, heavy grating that can be lowered down grooves on each side of a gateway to block it.
Middle English from Old French porte coleice ‘sliding door’, from porte ‘door’ (from Latin porta) + coleice ‘sliding’ (feminine of couleis, from Latin colare ‘to filter’).
Example sentences
“The portcullis acted as both defence and decoration.”
