Talk:at the high port

at the ready

Some of the citations in the entry and on the citations page could be read as meaning "at the ready", especially those relating to items like pencils and calculators, for which the physical sense doesn't seem semantically appropriate. DCDuring TALK 19:22, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

Also, the "hand" and "note-book" citations. DCDuring TALK 19:26, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

RFV passed

See this discussion. — Beobach 05:02, 21 November 2010 (UTC)

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process.

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

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October 2008

at the high port

And while we're at it, can someone who really knows tell me in what position you'd be holding a rifle if you were holding it (deprecated template usage) at the high port? I know it's a position of readiness, for example held while running (deprecated template usage) at the double. Somewhere online it said 'at the high port' means to hold the rifle above one's head with both arms outstretched, but I'm thinking that might be a modern extension of the term applied to such a punishment or exercise. Oh, and our current entry for (deprecated template usage) at the high port describes a rare slang sense stemming from the "readiness, quickness" of soldiers in this particular rifle position. We need to list the real rifle position, but I can't find it's description anywhere convincingly. -- Thisis0 03:44, 11 October 2008 (UTC) ':Edit: Ok, so I just found this Apparently, it does mean hold a rifle in the port position well over the head. Any other thoughts welcome. Any cites for the slang sense? -- Thisis0 03:55, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Needs a picture or two, once we're sure of what the sources mean. DCDuring TALK 11:57, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

• A picture of "high port". This suggests that "at the high port" should be moved to high port. Also see port arms. DCDuring TALK 01:03, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

There seem to various positions referred to as "high port". The one shown seems to be for drill. It does seem to have been used in bayonet charges in battle, as recently as the Korean "police action". DCDuring TALK 01:22, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

{{look|nocat=1}}

Although it may be a specific position in certain contexts, it seems more commonly to mean any of several positions above standard port/port arms. I saw one drawing in which someone was carrying a stretcher "at high port". In the first instance it seems to mean a position perhaps as little as three inches above "port". I'm not sure that the above-the-head port position has any point apart from its roles in punishment and discipline and carrying something across a body of deep water. Some positions seem like things only for the parade-ground. DCDuring TALK 18:20, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

To provide more context:

• The term "at the high port" has been sent to RFV in this edit by Thisis0 on 11 October 2008; Thisis0 did not add a RFV template to the mainspace entry of the term, so it was unclear whether he was sending the whole entry, a single sense, or actually nothing to RFV.
• This RFV is currently set on the single sense: "(idiomatic, slang, by extension) at once; unhesitatingly; quickly and vigorously." It was set to this one sense in February 2010 by DCDuring[1]. The other sense, the first one, is "Describes the position of a weapon (usually a rifle or musket, especially with a bayonet) held with two hands as in "port arms", but carried well above the head. Often the weapon position taught for running (at the double) or in a charge."
• The second sense, the one being sent to RFV here, was added in this edit as two senses, which was the creation of the entry, giving Partridge, Dictionary of Slang, 7th Ed. as his source, on 26 August 2008. The two added senses: 1. at once; unhesitatingly. 2. vigorously.
• The entry was substantially rewritten in this series of edits by Thisis0 in October 2008, in which another sense was added, referring to a position of a weapon held with two hands.
• The term "at the high port" has zero OneLook entries. The term "high port" has also zero OneLook entries.
• Search glimpses: google:"at the high port", google books:"at the high port", google:"high port", google books:"high port".

--Dan Polansky 09:05, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

So... there's some uncertainty about what precise position is meant if one holds a weapon "at the high port", but we're agreed on the general definition that's there now, yes? Is anyone requesting verification of it? (If so, we should re-enter / move this at the bottom of the page!) The sense that's tagged isn't that military sense, it's the "at once" sense, which I'm prepared to mark as RFV-failed after more than a year two years and remove. Objections? — Beobach972 20:54, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

None from me. In the specific edit wherein this section was split off from the 'port' section, the only change besides the addition of the section editor and removal an initial "P.S." was the addition of the question, "Any cites for the slang sense?"; so I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that only the slang sense was intended to be RFV'd. Everything else in this section is kind of a red herring. (Though I'd also support, alternatively, archiving this section and creating a new one wherein it's clear what's being RFV'd. I, for one, didn't understand the request until now, so haven't even tried to cite it. And no one else has commented suggesting that they tried, either.) —Ruakh_TALK 21:17, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Is this use in the RFV'd sense? I think it is. —Ruakh_TALK 21:30, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

It is! Now if we can find two others...

I've been looking through Google Books for uses of "at the high port" (and just "high port") in any sense, to see which of the senses we list are attested, which senses we lack are attested, and which senses we list are unattested. I'm storing quotations on the talk page at the moment. I've found a curious one about stabbing a porcupine with a shotgun(!) — where not the shotgun but the porcupine's bristles were "at the high port"! — Beobach972 03:13, 13 November 2010 (UTC)

Cited in all senses. Struck, RFV-passed. Feel free to move the quotations in the entry and on the talk page to a citations page. — Beobach972 04:23, 14 November 2010 (UTC)