WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Porch
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [F. porche, L. porticus, fr. porta a gate, entrance, or passage. See Port a gate, and cf. Portico.]
Definition : 1. (Arch.)

Defn: 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.]
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913