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The Collaborative International Dictionary
The Porch

Porch \Porch\, n. [F. porche, L. porticus, fr. porta a gate, entrance, or passage. See Port a gate, and cf. Portico.]

  1. (Arch.) A covered and inclosed entrance to a building, whether taken from the interior, and forming a sort of vestibule within the main wall, or projecting without and with a separate roof. Sometimes the porch is large enough to serve as a covered walk. See also Carriage porch, under Carriage, and Loggia.

    The graceless Helen in the porch I spied Of Vesta's temple.
    --Dryden.

  2. A portico; a covered walk. [Obs.]

    Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find find us.
    --Shak.

    The Porch, a public portico, or great hall, in Athens, where Zeno, the philosopher, taught his disciples; hence, sometimes used as equivalent to the school of the Stoics. It was called "h poiki`lh stoa`. [See Poicile.]

Usage examples of "the porch".

I used to sit on the porch in the twilight when the night birds were beginning to sing and watch Aunt Mae go down the path in her good dress and disappear where the hill got steep and I couldn't see her anymore.

No one out there on the porch where the vines crawled on the screens.

He waited by the door to the house as Elisabet and Justen stepped onto the porch.

He filled the bucket and trudged back to the porch, where he filled a mug for Clerve.

Qwilleran helped Nick carry the hurricane shutters out of the basement, and then he helped carry the porch furniture indoors.

Leaving the suitcase where it stood, he crossed to the porch, and, nodding at O.