portal bracing

1 definition found

portal bracing - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Portal \Por"tal\, n. [OF. portal, F. portail, LL. portale, fr.
     L. porta a gate. See Port a gate.]
     1. A door or gate; hence, a way of entrance or exit,
        especially one that is grand and imposing.
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              Thick with sparkling orient gems
              The portal shone.                     --Milton.
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              From out the fiery portal of the east. --Shak.
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     2. (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.
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     3. (Bridge Building) The space, at one end, between opposite
        trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces.
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     4. A prayer book or breviary; a portass. [Obs.]
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     Portal bracing (Bridge Building), 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.
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