Postern

IV. ii.91 (101,4) [that spirit's possess'd with haste, That wounds the unresisting postern with these strokes] The line is irregular, and the _unresisting postern_ so strange an expression, that want of measure, and want of sense, might justly raise suspicion of an errour, yet none of the later editors seem to have supposed the place faulty, except sir Tho. ❋ Samuel Johnson (1746)

If the Germans and their allies crossed the river above and below the city, enveloping it from three sides, their bridgeheads across the river would not only be vulnerable to flank attacks, but the city itself would become a staging area for attacks, what a German general in a previous war had called a postern gate, an opening in a fortification that enabled the defenders to sally forth and surprise the besiegers. ❋ John Mosier (2010)

Running down the path, vaulting the little gate leading into the shrubberies, and dashing down a back way almost dark with the thick laurel-bushes overhead, he soon reached what was known as the postern door. ❋ Various (1873)

a narrow postern, which is generally accepted as that through which ❋ Gordon Home (1923)

For an adventuring mood this window was a kind of postern to the house for innocent deception, beyond the eye of both the sitting-room and cook. ❋ Fritz August Gottfried Endell (1906)

After this Vellido took the king apart and said to him, If it please you, sir, let us ride out together alone; we will go round Zamora, and see the trenches which you have ordered to be made; and I will show unto you the postern which is called the queen's, by which we may enter the town, for it is never closed. ❋ William Patten (1902)

Zamora, and see the trenches which you have ordered to be made; and I will show unto you the postern which is called the Queen's, by which we may enter the town, for it is never closed. ❋ Various (1808)

Romaine himself let us out of a window in a part of the house known to Rowley: it appears it served as a kind of postern to the servants 'hall, by which (when they were in the mind for a clandestine evening) they would come regularly in and out; and I remember very well the vinegar aspect of the lawyer on the receipt of this piece of information -- how he pursed his lips, jutted his eyebrows, and kept repeating,' This must be seen to, indeed! this shall be barred to-morrow in the morning! ' ❋ Robert Louis Stevenson (1872)

She approached the postern gate where a pompous-looking black-clad guard halted her. ❋ Xcpublishing (2009)

Yves dreamed ardently of climbing up by the great vine and remaining within, in concealment, long enough to find a postern that could be opened, or a guard who could be overpowered and robbed of his keys. ❋ Unknown (2010)

The postern that was opened to let the king's negotiators in could as well let FitzClare's dead body out, to some hiding-place in the woods. ❋ Unknown (2010)

They left me in the window well over the palace door, where, if I could have seen, I would have scanned the courtyard before the postern gate in the palace walls. ❋ Unknown (2010)

There were shouts as the men from the postern gate ran to the breach in the wall. ❋ Unknown (2010)

They led me up the stairs and ramps and corridors that would take us to the postern gate. ❋ Unknown (2010)

I walked as far as the postern gate that led to the road but I did not pass through. ❋ Kate Emerson (2010)

I had seen the cattle disappear, one shaggy beast at a time, down the ditch that led to the hidden postern door, under the expert driving of Rupert and his men. ❋ Unknown (2010)