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fence

Pronunciation: /fɛns/

The English word “fence” has 16 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.
  2. 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. The art or practice of fencing.
  6. A guard or guide on machinery.
  7. A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
  8. A prohibition enacted to prevent violation of another more primary rule.
  9. A memory barrier.
  10. The boundary.

verb

  1. To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
  2. To defend or guard.
  3. To engage in the selling or buying of stolen goods.
  4. To engage in the sport of fencing (against).
  5. To jump over a fence.
  6. To conceal the truth by giving equivocal answers; to hedge; to be evasive.

Etymology

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.