Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Postern
Pos′tern
,Noun.
1.
Originally, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate.
He by a privy
postern
took his flight. Spenser.
Out at the
postern
, by the abbey wall. Shakespeare
2.
(Fort.)
A subterraneous passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
Mahan.
Pos′tern
,Adj.
Back; being behind; private.
“The postern door.” Dryden.
Webster 1828 Edition
Postern
POSTERN
,Noun.
1.
Primarily, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate.2.
In fortification , a small gate, usually in the angle of the flank of a bastion, or in that of the curtain or near the orillon, descending into the ditch.POSTERN
,Adj.
Definition 2024
Postern
postern
postern
See also: Postern
English
Noun
postern (plural posterns)
- A back gate, back door, side entrance, or other gateway distinct from the main entrance.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter ij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XII:
- And as they cam hurlyng vnder the Castel where as sir launcelot lay in wyndowe / & sawe how two knyghtes layd vpon syr Blyaunt with their swerdes / […] / And thenne sir launcelot brake the chaynes fro his legges and of his armes / […] / & so sir launcelot ran out at a posterne / and there he mett with the two knyȝtes that chaced sir Blyaunt
- Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599)
- He by a privy postern took his flight.
- William Shakespeare (c.1564–1616)
- Out at the postern, by the abbey wall.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter ij, in Le Morte Darthur, book XII:
- (archaic) By extension, a separate or hidden way in or out of a place, situation etc.
- (historical, military) A subterranean passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Mahan to this entry?)
Translations
secondary gateway
Adjective
postern (comparative more postern, superlative most postern)
- Situated at the rear; posterior.