Port‐cul″lis (?), n. [OF. porte coulisse, coleïce, a sliding door, fr. L. colare, colatum, to filter, to strain: cf. F. couler to glide. See Port a gate, and cf. Cullis, Colander.] 1. (Fort.) A grating of iron or of timbers pointed with iron, hung over the gateway of a fortress, to be let down to prevent the entrance of an enemy. “Let the portcullis fall.” Sir W. Scott.
She... the huge portcullis high updrew. Milton.
2. An English coin of the reign of Elizabeth, struck for the use of the East India Company; — so called from its bearing the figure of a portcullis on the reverse.