fence
English
![](../I/m/Fence_400px.jpg)
A fence (barrier)
Etymology
The original meaning is "the act of defending", from Middle French defens (see defence), adopted in the 14th century. The sense "enclosure" arises in the mid 15th century. Also from the 15th century is use as a verb in the sense "to enclose with a fence". The generalized sense "to defend, screen, protect" arises ca. 1500. The sense "to fight with swords (rapiers)" is from the 1590s (Shakespeare).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fɛns/, [fɛns], [fɛnts]
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛns
Noun
fence (countable and uncountable, plural fences)
- A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter.
- 1865, Horatio Alger, Paul Prescott's Charge, Ch.XVII:
- There was a weak place in the fence separating the two inclosures
- 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
- From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.
- 1865, Horatio Alger, Paul Prescott's Charge, Ch.XVII:
- Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
- 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794, page 01:
- The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
- The place whence such a middleman operates.
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- Skill in oral debate.
- (obsolete, uncountable) The art or practice of fencing.
- 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor,
- I bruised my shin th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence
- 1599, William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor,
- A guard or guide on machinery.
- (figuratively) A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
- 1980, ABBA, The Winner Takes It All
- I was in your arms / Thinking I belonged there / I figured it made sense / Building me a fence
- 1980, ABBA, The Winner Takes It All
- (computing, programming) A memory barrier.
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Pennsylvania German: Fens
Translations
barrier
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someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
See also
Verb
fence (third-person singular simple present fences, present participle fencing, simple past and past participle fenced)
- (transitive) To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act IV, Scene 3,
- […] pray you, if you know,
- Where in the purlieus of this forest stands
- A sheep-cote fenc’d about with olive trees?
- c. 1607, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, Act IV, Scene 1,
- […] O thou wall,
- That girdlest in those wolves, dive in the earth,
- And fence not Athens.
- 1856, George A. Smith, The Saints Should Divest Themselves of Old Traditions,
- Here are twenty acres of land, and it is all you can properly farm, unless you have more help than yourself. Now fence and cultivate it, and you can make an abundant living.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act IV, Scene 3,
- (transitive) To defend or guard.
- 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,
- Cosin, our hands I hope shall fence our heads,
- And strike off his that makes you threaten vs.
- 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes in Paradise Regain’d […] to which is added Samson Agonistes, London: John Starkey, p. 58, lines 937-938,
- […] I have learn’t
- To fence my ear against thy sorceries.
- 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,
- (transitive) To engage in the selling or buying of stolen goods.
- 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794, page 01:
- The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.
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- (intransitive, sports) To engage in the sport of fencing.
- 1921, Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche,
- Challenges are flying right and left between these bully-swordsmen, these spadassinicides, and poor devils of the robe who have never learnt to fence with anything but a quill.
- 1921, Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche,
- (intransitive, equestrianism) To jump over a fence.
Synonyms
- (to sell or buy stolen goods): pawn
Translations
toenclose by building a fence
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to trade with stolen goods
to engage in (the sport) fencing
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfɛnt͡sɛ/
- Rhymes: -ɛntsɛ
- Hyphenation: fen‧ce
Noun
fence
- dative singular of fenka
- locative singular of fenka
- 1969, Stanislav Budín, Dynastie Kennedyů, Praha: Naše vojsko, page 126:
- Chruščov se rozesmál a vyprávěl o nových sovětských družicích, o fence Lajce, která byla prvním živým tvorem ve vesmíru a nedávno vrhla štěňata.
- Khrushchev started laughing and talked about new Soviet satellites, about the bitch Laika, who was the first alive creature in space and who gave birth to her puppies not a long time ago.
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