portance
English
Etymology
From Middle French portance (“a carrying, support”), from porter (“to carry”), from Latin portare (“carry, bear, convey”).
Noun
portance (uncountable)
- (obsolete) The manner in which one carries oneself; behaviour.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:
- […] for in court gay portaunce he perceiu'd, / And gallant shew to be in greatest gree […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.iii:
Synonyms
- port (also a dated/archaic sense)
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Noun
portance f (plural portances)
- lift (upward force, such as that which keeps an aircraft aloft)
- bearing pressure
Further reading
- “portance”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.