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.”
Medley (noun) med-lee a mixture, especially of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge; jumble. First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English noun and adjective medle(e), medlei(e), maedlai(e) “battle, war, quarrel; mixture, balanced mixture,” from…
