Dictionary

Sublime Porte en · PROPN

Etymology

From French Sublime Porte (“high gate/portal”).

Meanings

1. (literally) The monumental portal at the Ottoman palace where the supreme tribunals were held; became the surname of the first palace in Bursa, transferred to the even grander Topkapı palace after the capital's transfer to Istanbul (the former Byzantine imperial capital Constantinople)
2. (figuratively) The Ottoman sultanic court, hence the imperial government, notably the vizierial divan and the entire empire, or a personage with a similar standing.
   • He liked the pleasures of the table, and he liked attendance; he was a sort of Sublime Porte to his valets. 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Matrimonial Tête-à-Tête”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 170:

Forms

Relateds

mikado · pharaoh

Synonyms

Ottoman sultanic court etc

Translations (15)

ar البَاب العَالِي (Ottoman imperial government) · nl Hoge Porte (Ottoman imperial government) · da Porten (Ottoman imperial government) · mk Висока порта (Ottoman imperial government) · sv Höga porten (Ottoman imperial government) · de Hohe Pforte (Ottoman imperial government) · fr Sublime Porte (Ottoman imperial government) · da Den Høje Port (Ottoman imperial government) · tr Babıali (Ottoman imperial government) · nl Porte (Ottoman imperial government) · fa باب عالی (Ottoman imperial government) · nl Verhevene Porte (Ottoman imperial government) · sv Porten (Ottoman imperial government) · nl Sublieme Porte (Ottoman imperial government) · fa عالی قاپو (Ottoman imperial government)