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Webster 1913 Edition
Postern
Pos′tern
,Noun.
1.
Originally, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate.
He by a privy
postern
took his flight. Spenser.
Out at the
postern
, by the abbey wall. Shakespeare
2.
(Fort.)
A subterraneous passage communicating between the parade and the main ditch, or between the ditches and the interior of the outworks.
Mahan.
Pos′tern
,Adj.
Back; being behind; private.
“The postern door.” Dryden.
Webster 1828 Edition
Postern
POSTERN
,Noun.
1.
Primarily, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate.2.
In fortification , a small gate, usually in the angle of the flank of a bastion, or in that of the curtain or near the orillon, descending into the ditch.POSTERN
,Adj.