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Fence   /fɛns/   Listen
noun
Fence  n.  
1.
That which fends off attack or danger; a defense; a protection; a cover; security; shield. "Let us be backed with God and with the seas, Which he hath given for fence impregnable." "A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath."
2.
An inclosure about a field or other space, or about any object; especially, an inclosing structure of wood, iron, or other material, intended to prevent intrusion from without or straying from within. "Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold." Note: In England a hedge, ditch, or wall, as well as a structure of boards, palings, or rails, is called a fence.
3.
(Locks) A projection on the bolt, which passes through the tumbler gates in locking and unlocking.
4.
Self-defense by the use of the sword; the art and practice of fencing and sword play; hence, skill in debate and repartee. See Fencing. "Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric, That hath so well been taught her dazzing fence." "Of dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence."
5.
A receiver of stolen goods, or a place where they are received. (Slang)
Fence month (Forest Law), the month in which female deer are fawning, when hunting is prohibited.
Fence roof, a covering for defense. "They fitted their shields close to one another in manner of a fence roof."
Fence time, the breeding time of fish or game, when they should not be killed.
Rail fence, a fence made of rails, sometimes supported by posts.
Ring fence, a fence which encircles a large area, or a whole estate, within one inclosure.
Worm fence, a zigzag fence composed of rails crossing one another at their ends; called also snake fence, or Virginia rail fence.
To be on the fence, to be undecided or uncommitted in respect to two opposing parties or policies. (Colloq.)


verb
Fence  v. t.  (past & past part. fenced; pres. part. fencing)  
1.
To fend off danger from; to give security to; to protect; to guard. "To fence my ear against thy sorceries."
2.
To inclose with a fence or other protection; to secure by an inclosure. "O thou wall!... dive in the earth, And fence not Athens." "A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees."
To fence the tables (Scot. Church), to make a solemn address to those who present themselves to commune at the Lord's supper, on the feelings appropriate to the service, in order to hinder, so far as possible, those who are unworthy from approaching the table.


Fence  v. i.  
1.
To make a defense; to guard one's self of anything, as against an attack; to give protection or security, as by a fence. "Vice is the more stubborn as well as the more dangerous evil, and therefore, in the first place, to be fenced against."
2.
To practice the art of attack and defense with the sword or with the foil, esp. with the smallsword, using the point only. "He will fence with his own shadow."
3.
Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc. "As when a billow, blown against, Falls back, the voice with which I fenced A little ceased, but recommenced."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Fence" Quotes from Famous Books



... nothing yet, in consequence of the protracted dry weather. But we have, at last, abundant rains. To-day I found several long pieces of rusty wire, and these I have affixed horizontally to the wood-house and to the fence, intending to lead the lima beans up to them by strings, which I will fasten to switches stuck between the plants. My beets will soon be fit to eat, and so will the squashes. But the potatoes do not yet afford a cheering prospect. The tomatoes, however, are coming on finely, and the cherries are ...
— A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital • John Beauchamp Jones
... witch of the salt water truly significant, and still retained the most beautiful parts of the photoplay as it was exhibited. It is an exceedingly irrelevant imagination that shows her in other scenes as a duellist, for instance, because forsooth she can fence. As a child of the ocean, half fish, half woman, she is indeed convincing. Such mermaids as this have haunted sailors, and lured them on the rocks to their doom, from the day the siren sang till the hour the Lorelei sang ...
— The Art Of The Moving Picture • Vachel Lindsay
... winter tends to render the people sluggish, for though this season has its peculiar pleasures, too much time is employed to guard against its inclemency. Still as warm clothing is absolutely necessary, the women spin and the men weave, and by these exertions get a fence to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed a knot of cottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I entered, always found the women ...
— Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark • Mary Wollstonecraft
... took off her cap and apron and, donning a shade hat, stepped joyfully out in the sunshine with her husband. They followed the little brook at the foot of the orchard, and climbing the fence, found themselves once more in the beechwoods. Both of them remembered the walk they had taken there together more than two years before, and with one accord they directed their footsteps to the great tree, the ...
— Molly Brown's Orchard Home • Nell Speed
... will only just go in and begin a toon on the peanner, cook says he will come up to the fence and hearken to you, for he is always a-doing that; and maybe I can slip ...
— Harper's Young People, March 9, 1880 - An Illustrated Weekly • Various


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