The Collaborative International Dictionary
Porte \Porte\, n. [F. porte a gate, L. porta. See Port a gate.] The Ottoman court; the government of the Turkish empire, officially called the Sublime Porte, from the gate (port) of the sultan's palace at which justice was administered.
Wikipedia
The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( Bâb-ı Âli or Babıali, from , bāb "gate" and , alī "high"), is a metonym for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. The naming has its origins in the old Oriental practice, according to which the ruler announced his official decisions and judgements at the gate of his palace. This was the practice in the Byzantine Empire, at it was adopted also by Ottoman Turk sultans since Orhan I, and therefore the palace of the sultan, or the gate leading to it, became know as the "High Gate". This name referred first to a palace in Brussa. After Ottomans had conquered Constantinople, now Istanbul, the gate now known as the Imperial Gate (, leading to the outermost courtyard of the Topkapi Palace, became at first known as the "High Gate", or the "Sublime Porte".
When Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed an alliance with King Francis I of France in 1536, the French diplomats walked through the monumental gate then known as Bab-ı Ali (now Bâb-ı Hümâyûn) in order to reach the Vizierate of Constantinople, seat of the Sultan's government. French being the language of diplomacy, the French translation Sublime Porte (the adjective being unusually placed ahead of the word to emphasise its importance) was soon adopted in most other European languages, including English, to refer not only to the actual gate but as a metaphor for the Ottoman Empire.
In the 18th century, a new great Italian-styled office building was built just West of Topkapi Palace area, on the other side of Alemdar Caddesi street. This became the location of the Grand Vizier and many ministries. Thereafter, this building, and the monumental gate leading to its courtyards, became known as the Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali).; collocially it was also kwown as the Gate of the Page (paša kapusi''). The building was badly damaged by fire in 1911. Today, the buildings house the provincial Governor of Istanbul.
Usage examples of "sublime porte".
He moves secretly from the conclaves of the English East India Company in Bombay to the court of the Great Mogul in Delhi, from the bosom of the Sublime Porte to the Emperor's cabinet in Peking.
In this honest and curious narrative, the Bishop of Cremona represents the ceremonies of the Byzantine court, which are still practised in the Sublime Porte, and which were preserved in the last age by the dukes of Muscovy or Russia.
Apart from anything else, since an open breach between Mehemet Ali and the Sublime Porte is very probable, he need not fear Turkish resentment if he treats us ill.
Nasi said, recalling his own reaction: that Richard Nixon would have fit right in at the Sublime Porte.
Of course, I have seen no other city, except Albany, and maybe the Sultan's Sublime Porte is wickeder than Cross Street at midnight but I doubt it.
Gaining his confidence, he soon discovered that the man was actually one Mahmut, a renegade who in the East had embraced the faith of the Mohammedans, but, disguised as a Portuguese merchant, was collecting information about the English navy, while other spies in the hire of the Sublime Porte were doing the same in France.
Although, as you are aware, the deys have long since thrown off all but a purely nominal allegiance to the Sublime Porte, the Sultan's titles, orders and decorations have a very real value here, particularly to men like Omar: and quite apart from that Hashin has a wide acquaintance with the chief men in the Muslim states of Africa and the Levant.
Although, as you are aware, the deys have long since thrown off all but a purely nominal allegiance to the Sublime Porte, the Sultan’.
Arundel has an agent at the Sublime Porte who ships them to London by the crate-load.
The boats also carried heads, neatly fixed on poles, which were being sent as gifts to the Sublime Porte.
I've never been privileged to see a direct order from the Sublime Porte, signed by the sultan himself.
Our courier believes he got the message here a full day before the official message from the Sublime Porte, which will be for the doge first in any event.