port4

 
Pronunciation: /pɔːt/

noun

  • 1an opening in the side of a ship for boarding or loading.
  • a porthole: the cabin has rectangular ports set just below sheer in each quarter
  • (also gun port) an opening in the body of an aircraft or in a wall or armoured vehicle through which a gun may be fired.
  • an opening for the passage of steam, liquid, or gas: loss of fuel from the exhaust port
  • 2 Electronics a socket in a computer network into which a device can be plugged: a communications port for optional cellular and other wireless modules
  • 3chiefly Scottish a gate or gateway, especially into a walled city.

Origin:

Old English (in the sense 'gateway'), from Latin porta 'gate'; reinforced in Middle English by Old French porte. The later sense 'opening in the side of a ship' led to the general sense 'aperture'