the.com/sallyport
a fortress door built for the one move every wall fears: charging out.
means A secure, controlled opening in a fortification or prison through which defenders can make a sudden sortie or through which people are passed under guard.
from From the French 'saillie,' a sudden rush or sally, which comes from the verb 'saillir,' to leap or rush forth — itself rooted in Latin 'salire,' to jump (the same leaping root behind 'salmon,' the fish that vaults upstream, and 'somersault'). A 'sally' was the act of leaping out at the enemy; the 'port,' from Latin 'porta,' was simply the gate it leaped from. So a sallyport is, quite literally, the leaping-out gate.
- name origin
- From Latin salire, to leap or sally forth
- double duty
- Today guards prison transfers and military base entries
- defensive trap
- Often a kill-zone corridor between two heavy gates
- naval cousin
- Warships once had sally ports for boarding parties
- west point
- Its sally port is a famous campus landmark
sallyport at fort sumter — charleston harbor fortification with underground passage used during the 1861 bombardment