port

The three types of communications port in a microcomputer. The USB port transmits data at a faster rate than a serial or parallel port.

In computing, a socket that enables a computer processor to communicate with an external device. It may be an input port (such as a joystick port), or an output port (such as a printer port), or both (an i/o port).

Microcomputers may provide ports for cartridges, televisions and/or monitors, printers, and modems, and sometimes for hard disks and musical instruments (MIDI, the musical-instrument digital interface). Ports may be serial or parallel.

port

Point where goods are transferred between water-based and land-based forms of transport. Most ports are coastal, though inland ports on rivers also exist. Ports often have specialized equipment to handle cargo in large quantities (for example, container or roll-on/roll-off facilities).

Historically, ports have been important growth poles from which the transport networks of many colonial and trading countries developed, as in Nigeria. Ports with deep-water berths can accommodate large modern shipping; for example, the port of Rotterdam. See also airport.

port

Grapes grown in the valley of the River Douro in Portugal. The juice from these grapes will, in due course, contribute towards the production of the local speciality – port wine. The individual character of port derives from the maker's skill in knowing how much brandy to add to the mix, which fine wines to blend in its production, and how long to allow it to mature in the casks.

Sweet red, tawny, or white dessert wine, fortified with brandy, made from grapes grown in the Douro basin of Portugal and exported from Oporto, hence the name.