The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sally \Sal"ly\, n.; pl. Sallies. [F. saillie, fr. saillir. See Sally, v.]
A leaping forth; a darting; a spring.
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A rushing or bursting forth; a quick issue; a sudden eruption; specifically, an issuing of troops from a place besieged to attack the besiegers; a sortie.
Sallies were made by the Spaniards, but they were beaten in with loss.
--Bacon. -
An excursion from the usual track; range; digression; deviation.
Every one shall know a country better that makes often sallies into it, and traverses it up and down, than he that . . . goes still round in the same track.
--Locke. -
A flight of fancy, liveliness, wit, or the like; a flashing forth of a quick and active mind.
The unaffected mirth with which she enjoyed his sallies.
--Sir W. Scott. -
Transgression of the limits of soberness or steadiness; act of levity; wild gayety; frolic; escapade. The excursion was esteemed but a sally of youth. --Sir H. Wotton. Sally port.
(Fort.) A postern gate, or a passage underground, from the inner to the outer works, to afford free egress for troops in a sortie.
(Naval) A large port on each quarter of a fireship, for the escape of the men into boats when the train is fired; a large port in an old-fashioned three-decker or a large modern ironclad.
Wiktionary
alt. 1 A small door in a fort or a castle to enable a sally; a postern. 2 An entryway controlled by two doors or gates, of which each must be closed before the other can open. n. 1 A small door in a fort or a castle to enable a sally; a postern. 2 An entryway controlled by two doors or gates, of which each must be closed before the other can open.
Wikipedia
A sally port is a secure, controlled entryway to a fortification or prison. The entrance is usually protected by some means, such as a fixed wall on the outside, parallel to the door—which must be circumvented to enter and prevents direct enemy fire from a distance. It may include two sets of doors that can be barred independently to further delay enemy penetration.
From around 1600 to 1900, a sally port was a sort of dock where boats picked up or dropped off ship crews from vessels anchored offshore. That meaning occasionally still occurs, especially in coastal Great Britain.
Usage examples of "sally port".
He had been so lovely, and Joseph's guards beat him till he didn't even look human anymore, then strung him up against the stones in the sally port.
The fight at the sally port was not going so well for the legionaries.
A strong fort at the bridge could be supplied by river from Old Residence, and would give the Civil Government force a potential sally port to the besiegers' rear.
She let it rush her across the cobblestones and to the sally port in the heavy, wide gate that guarded the keep's secuÂ.
Then the other poured over a wall or in through a bribed-open sally port, and rushed for the Lady Fani's apartments.
The big northern gate was barred, while the small sally port cut within the gate was left open.