fence
Plural: fences
Noun
- a barrier that serves to enclose an area
- a dealer in stolen property
- A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.
- Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
- The place whence such a middleman operates.
- Skill in oral debate.
- The art or practice of fencing.
- A guard or guide on machinery.
- A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
- A memory barrier.
- The boundary.
Verb
Verb Forms: fenced, fencing, fences
- To practice the sport of fencing, fighting with swords.
- enclose with a fence
- "we fenced in our yard"
- receive stolen goods
- fight with fencing swords
- surround with a wall in order to fortify
- have an argument about something
- To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
- To defend or guard.
- To engage in the selling or buying of stolen goods.
- To engage in the sport of fencing.
- To jump over a fence.
- To conceal the truth by giving equivocal answers; to hedge; to be evasive.
Examples
- Opponents often try to FENCE off good scoring spots on the Words With Friends board.
Origin / 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 (Shakespeare).
Displaced native Old English heġe (compare Modern English hedge).
Scrabble Score: 10
fence: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordfence: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
fence: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary