Middle English Dictionary Entry
Cink Pors, Cink Portes phr.
Entry Info
| Forms | Cink Pors, Cink Portes phr. Also sink pors. |
| Etymology | AF |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
The Cinque Ports (orig. the five seaports of Hastings, Sandwich, Dover, Romney, and Hythe, to which others were later added) on the south-east coast of England. [In return for extensive privileges these ports furnished the chief part of the English Navy.]
Associated quotations
- a1325 *Rwl.Statutes [OD col.] (Rwl B.520)lf.52b : Þe conestable of..douere ne sal..destreinen..þe men of þe Cink porz for te plaiten elles ware..þan hoe ouȝten.
- c1325(c1300) Glo.Chron.A (Clg A.11)10614 : France dude hom in þe se Aboute an hundred ssipuol, ac hii ne come noȝt alle aȝe. Vor sir Richard fiz le rei..& oþere kniȝtes manion & þe sink pors, scarseliche mid ssipes eiȝtetene, & ȝeue hom bataile in þe se.
- (1472) Let.Sou.in Sou.RS 22 (Sou SC.2/9/2)27 : The Office of Constable of Douorre and wardeyne of the vth poortes.