Portal /(?)/

Por·tal

Portal

n.
  1. 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.
    From out the fiery portal of the east.
  2. The lesser gate, where there are two of different dimensions. (Arch.)
  3. The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces. (Bridge Building)
  4. A prayer book or breviary; a portass. [Obs.]

Phrases & Compounds
Portal bracing
a combination of struts and ties which lie in the plane of the inclined braces at a portal, serving to transfer wind pressure from the upper parts of the trusses to an abutment or pier of the bridge.

Portal

a.
  1. 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. (Anat.)