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Can someone tell me what exactly a 'port' is? Is it just rewriting all the code base in a target language?

Porting is to make something that runs in a platform/environment run in another one.

Not necessarily having to do with coding in another language. Sometimes it's just a recompilation, or providing a new hardware abstraction layer (HAL). But sometimes it can lead to major re-development of the whole thing, be it using the same language, or a different one.

Rewriting the code base in another language would be considered a 'rewrite'. Usually, ports are in the same language but targeted at a different platform whether that be an OS or architecture, or even something like a different graphics library (OpenGL game ported to DirectX).

Referring to total rewrites in different languages as "ports" has a history in the game development world going back to the beginning, when those doing "ports" often did not even get access to original source or assets, and the games would be written in asm for the target platform anyway.

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