A Dictionary of Cont..

pore 380
ing from general use and porch holds sway.
(When the evening papers were distributed he
hurried home to sit on the porch before the
house).
In British usage porch is primarily an architectural
term describing an exterior structure
forming a covered approach to the entrance of a
building, especially of a church or cathedral.
pore; pour. Pore is to meditate or ponder intently,
gaze earnestly or steadily, read or study
with steady attention or application. To pour is
to send a liquid or fluid or anything in loose
particles, flowing or falling, as from a container,
or into, over, or on something, or to emit or
discharge in a stream or to send forth words as
in a stream or flood. Pore is often misspelled
pour (as in this sentence from one of our leading
intellectual journals: Attorney General Herbert
Brownell, Jr., and his deputy, William P.
Rogers, have spent much of the past two years
pouring throzrgh the files they inherited, hoping
to find enough “mess” documentation to bring
indictments against many a prominent Democrat).
But such spelling is incorrect.
pornography. See blasphemy.
port, harbor and haven all indicate a shelter for
ships. A haven is usually a natural shelter which
can be utilized by ships (Milford Haven is well
named, since its headlands provide natural protection
against storms. And the stately ships go
on,/ To their haven under the hill). It is popular
in a figurative sense to mean any safe place
(He found the club a haven of refuge from domestic
confusion). Harbor may describe a natural
or an artificially constructed or improved
shelter (When steamships began to replace sailing
vessels, harbors had to be found or built
which would accommodate ships of deeper
draft). A port is a harbor viewed especially in
its commercial aspect (NEW York does more
business than any other two American ports).
port and larboard both mean the left side of a
ship, facing toward the bow (opposed to starboard).
Larboard, the more ancient term, has
been largely replaced by port because it sounds
too much like starboard in shouted orders.
portend is now used correctly only in the sense
of to indicate beforehand, to presage, as an
omen (Such dark skies portend rain. What does
this angry introduction portend?). In the sense
of to signify, as in Bardolph’s assertion that his
red nose portended choler, portend is obsolete.
portent retains meanings portend has lost. Basically,
it means an indication or omen of something
about to happen, especially something
momentous (A prodigy of fear and a portent/
Of broached mischief to the unborn times). It
may also mean ominous significance (The dropping
of the first atom bomb was an event of evil
nortent) or a prodigv or marvel (The Loch Ness
‘monste; is a porteii, doubtless), though to this
last meaning there still clings some of the earlier
belief that the appearance of monsters and
prodigies was not an accident but a warning of
events to come.
portion. See part.
portmanteau. The plural is portmanteaus or portmanteaux.
It was Humpty Dumpty in his exegesis
of Jabberwocky who applied portmanteau to
those words in which “there are two meanings
packed up into one word.” In linguistics it is
called blending and many words now quite legitimate
came into existence this way, such as
dandle which is a blend of dance and handle.
The tendency, stimulated by some brilliant creations
in Time (of which cinemactress is an example),
is popular in contemporary America
and England and often useful as well. Brunch
serves a need as a name for an in-between meal,
partaking of the nature of both breakfast and
lunch, and is accepted as standard, though the
ordinary American male would certainly feel a
little self-conscious in using it. Certainly conscious
blendings are the work of wits (&ch as
Mr. Clifton Fadiman’s reference to the hullabalunacy
of so much of the puffing praise on
book jackets) and deserve to be admired, but
our admiration can be given only on the first
hearing. After that the word must stand (like
squadrol) on its usefulness or become tedious.
Portuguese. The singular and the plural are both
Portuguese. In the seventeenth century this word
had a plural form, Portugueses. This is now obsolete
and Portuguese is the only acceptable form
in the singular and in the plural, as in one Portuguese
and three Portuguese. A new singular,
Portuguee, is in use among fishermen and sailors,
but it has not made its way into standard
English.
pose; poise. Pose suggests something fairly temporary,
an assumed or artificial posture or attitude
(Please hold that pose while the photographer
takes one more picture. His heartiness is
just a pose; actually, he’s timid and frightened).
Poise suggests something more basic, a state of
balance or equilibrium, as from equality or
equal distribution of weight (It takes great poise
to walk a tightrope. The rock’s poise was such
that the least push would have moved it in either
direction). In figurative use it means composure,
self-possession (One needs poise on a witness
stand to endure the attack of an unscrupulous
cross-questioner), steadiness, stability (I could
tell she had poise from the way she walked onto
the stage).
position. See job.
position of adjectives. 1. The primary position
for an adjective is before the noun it qualifies,
as gray in gray goose. An adjective standing in
this position is called an adherent adjective, or
sometimes an attributive adjective.
Any qualifying word that can be used in this
position is an adjective. When a word that is
ordinarily classed as an adverb is used immediately
before a noun it arouses a great deal of
opposition. This is what is wrong with the there
in that there house. If the child who is determined
to use all these words would only say that
house there the teacher would be satisfied. Very
few adverbs have been accepted in this position,
and when one is, it is immediately recognized as
an adjective, as then in the then king of France,