fence

Meaning

1. A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.
2. (informal) Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
3. The place whence such a middleman operates.
4. Skill in oral debate.
5. (obsolete) The art or practice of fencing.
6. A guard or guide on machinery.
7. A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
8. A memory barrier.

hedge

wall

stall fence

dealer in stolen goods

prevaricate

rail in

rail off

acacia tree

fence rail

hedge in

polemicise

outer wall

enclosing wall

stockae

put up a fence

rail fence

practise fencing

outside wall

wing fence

diffuser grid

twig fence

pilerow

enclosed area

garden fence

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɛns/

From Middle English fence, fens, short for defence, defens (“the act of defending”), from Old French defens, defense (see defence). 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). Displaced native Old English heġe (compare Modern English hedge).

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