adj. prenom. 1. of the greatest importance. the all-important subject of disarmament
Syn. -- all important(predicate), crucial, essential, of the essence(predicate). [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. asportatio, fr. asportare to carry away; abs = ab + portare to bear, carry. ] (Law) The felonious removal of goods from the place where they were deposited. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It is adjudged to be larceny, though the goods are not carried from the house or apartment. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] The distribution of religious books, tracts, etc., by colporteurs. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Suitable; consistent. [ Obs. ] “Some comportable method.” Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Behavior; comport. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Goodly comportance each to other bear. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. comportatio. ] A bringing together. [ Obs. ] Bp. Richardson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. depotatio: cf. F. déportation. ] The act of deporting or exiling, or the state of being deported; banishment; transportation. [ 1913 Webster ]

In their deportations, they had often the favor of their conquerors. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being suitable for exportation. [ 1913 Webster ]

To increase the exportability of native goods. J. P. Peters. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Suitable for exportation; as, exportable products. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. exportatio: cf. F. exporation. ] 1. The act of exporting; the act of conveying or sending commodities abroad or to another country, in the course of commerce. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Commodity exported; an export. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The act of carrying out. [ R. ] Bourne. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. importable. See Import. ] Capable of being imported. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. importabilis; pref. im- not + portabilis bearable: cf. OF. importable. See Portable. ] Not to be endured; insupportable; intolerable. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. -- Im*port"a*ble*ness, n. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

n. [ F. importance. See Important. ] 1. The quality or state of being important; consequence; weight; moment; significance. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy own importance know,
Nor bound thy narrow views to things below. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Subject; matter. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon importance of so slight and trivial a nature. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Import; meaning; significance. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The wisest beholder could not say if the importance were joy or sorrow. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Importunity; solicitation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

At our importance hither is he come. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Importance; significance; consequence; that which is important. [ Obs. ] Shak. “Careful to conceal importancies.” Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ F. important. See Import, v. t. ] 1. Full of, or burdened by, import; charged with great interests; restless; anxious. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou hast strength as much
As serves to execute a mind very important. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Carrying or possessing weight or consequence; of valuable content or bearing; significant; weighty. [ 1913 Webster ]

Things small as nothing . . .
He makes important. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Bearing on; forcible; driving. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He fiercely at him flew,
And with important outrage him assailed. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Importunate; pressing; urgent. [ Obs. ] Shak.

Syn. -- Weighty; momentous; significant; essential; necessary; considerable; influential; serious. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. appearing to be important; as, an important-looking sealed document. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

adv. In an important manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. importation. See Import, v. t. ] 1. The act of carrying, conveying, or delivering. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act or practice of importing, or bringing into a country or state; -- opposed to exportation. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is imported; commodities or wares introduced into a country from abroad. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. insupportabilis: cf. F. insupportable. See In- not, and Support. ] Incapable of being supported or borne; unendurable; insufferable; intolerable; as, insupportable burdens; insupportable pain. -- In`sup*port"a*ble*ness, n. -- In`sup*port"a*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A failure of exportation; a not exporting of commodities. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Want or failure of importation; a not importing of commodities. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Portæ [ L., a gate. See Port a hole. ] (Anat.) (a) The part of the liver or other organ where its vessels and nerves enter; the hilus. (b) The foramen of Monro. B. G. Wilder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being portable; fitness to be carried. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. portabilis, fr. portare to carry: cf. F. portable. See Port demeanor. ] 1. Capable of being borne or carried; easily transported; conveyed without difficulty; as, a portable bed, desk, engine. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Possible to be endured; supportable. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

How light and portable my pain seems now! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Portable forge. See under Forge. --
Portable steam engine. See under Steam engine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being portable; portability. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Portass. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From 2d Port. ] (Naut.) (a) A sailor's wages when in port. (b) The amount of a sailor's wages for a voyage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ 3d Port. ] A porthole. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., from porter to carry. See Port to carry. ] 1. The act of carrying or transporting. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The price of carriage; porterage. Bp. Fell. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Capacity for carrying; tonnage. [ Obs. ] Hakluyt. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A carry between navigable waters. See 3d Carry. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. To carry (goods, boats, etc.) overland between navigable waters. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ So called from the township of Portage in New York. ] (Geol.) A subdivision of the Chemung period in American geology. See Chart of Geology. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Portuguese. ] A Portuguese gold coin formerly current, and variously estimated to be worth from three and one half to four and one half pounds sterling. [ Obs. ] [ Written also portegue and portigue. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Ten thousand portagues, besides great pearls. Marlowe. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thick with sparkling orient gems
The portal shone. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

From out the fiery portal of the east. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Bridge Building) The space, at one end, between opposite trusses when these are terminated by inclined braces. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A prayer book or breviary; a portass. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Of or pertaining to a porta, especially the porta of the liver; as, the portal vein, which enters the liver at the porta, and divides into capillaries after the manner of an artery. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Portal is applied to other veins which break up into capillaries; as, the renal portal veins in the frog. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ It., fr. portare to carry. ] (Mus.) In singing, or in the use of the bow, a gradual carrying or lifting of the voice or sound very smoothly from one note to another; a gliding from tone to tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Port, carriage, demeanor. [ Obs. ] Spenser. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. porte-hors a kind of prayer book, so called from being portable; cf. LL. portiforium. ] A breviary; a prayer book. [ Written variously portace, portasse, portesse, portise, porthose, portos, portus, portuse, etc. ] [ Obs. ] Spenser. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

By God and by this porthors I you swear. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. portatus, p. p. of portare to carry. ] (Her.) Borne not erect, but diagonally athwart an escutcheon; as, a cross portate. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. portatif. ] 1. Portable. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physics) Capable of holding up or carrying; as, the portative force of a magnet, of atmospheric pressure, or of capillarity. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of reexporting, or of exporting an import. A. Smith. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of reimporting; also, that which is reimported. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Both renal and portal. See Portal. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable or admitting of being reported. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. SAme as Report. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An exaggerated estimate of one's own importance or merit, esp. as manifested by the conduct or manners; self-conceit. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having or manifesting an exaggerated idea of one's own importance or merit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Sportiveness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to sports; used in sports. [ R. ] “Sportal arms.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. supportable. ] Capable of being supported, maintained, or endured; endurable. -- Sup*port"a*ble*ness, n. -- Sup*port"a*bly, adv. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Support. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]