[syn: argue, contend, debate, fence]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fence \Fence\ (f[e^]ns), n. [Abbrev. from defence.]
1. That which fends off attack or danger; a defense; a
protection; a cover; security; shield.
[1913 Webster]
Let us be backed with God and with the seas,
Which he hath given for fence impregnable. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath.
--Addison.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Note: In England a hedge, ditch, or wall, as well as a
structure of boards, palings, or rails, is called a
fence.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Locks) A projection on the bolt, which passes through the
tumbler gates in locking and unlocking.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,
That hath so well been taught her dazzing fence.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Of dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence.
--Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
5. A receiver of stolen goods, or a place where they are
received. [Slang] --Mayhew.
[1913 Webster]
Fence month (Forest Law), the month in which female deer
are fawning, when hunting is prohibited. --Bullokar.
Fence roof, a covering for defense. "They fitted their
shields close to one another in manner of a fence roof."
--Holland.
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.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fence \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.
[1913 Webster]
Vice is the more stubborn as well as the more
dangerous evil, and therefore, in the first place,
to be fenced against. --Locke.
[1913 Webster]
2. To practice the art of attack and defense with the sword
or with the foil, esp. with the smallsword, using the
point only.
[1913 Webster]
He will fence with his own shadow. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that
is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc.
[1913 Webster]
They fence and push, and, pushing, loudly roar;
Their dewlaps and their sides are bat?ed in gore.
--Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
As when a billow, blown against,
Falls back, the voice with which I fenced
A little ceased, but recommenced. --Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fence \Fence\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fenced (f[e^]nst); p. pr. &
vb. n. Fencing (f[e^]n"s[i^]ng).]
1. To fend off danger from; to give security to; to protect;
to guard.
[1913 Webster]
To fence my ear against thy sorceries. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. To inclose with a fence or other protection; to secure by
an inclosure.
[1913 Webster]
O thou wall! . . . dive in the earth,
And fence not Athens. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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. --McCheyne.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fence
n 1: a barrier that serves to enclose an area [syn: fence,
fencing]
2: a dealer in stolen property
v 1: enclose with a fence; "we fenced in our yard" [syn:
fence, fence in]
2: receive stolen goods
3: fight with fencing swords
4: surround with a wall in order to fortify [syn: wall,
palisade, fence, fence in, surround]
5: have an argument about something [syn: argue, contend,
debate, fence]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
309 Moby Thesaurus words for "fence":
abatis, about the bush, advanced work, arch dam, arm, armor,
armor-plate, around the bush, avoid, backstop, baffle, balistraria,
balustrade, bamboo curtain, bank, banquette, bar, barbed wire,
barbed-wire entanglement, barbican, barrage, barricade, barrier,
bartizan, bastion, battle, battlement, bear-trap dam, beat about,
beat around, beaver dam, beg the question, bicker, black-market,
black-marketeer, bless, block, blockade, boggle, boom, bootleg,
bound, boundary, box, brawl, breakwater, breastwork, brick wall,
broil, buffer, bulkhead, bulkhead in, bulwark, cage, casemate,
castellate, cavil, center, champion, cheval-de-frise, choplogic,
circumscribe, circumvallation, clash, cloak, close, cofferdam,
collide, combat, come to blows, compass about, compromise, confine,
contend, contest, contravallation, coop, copyright, corral,
counterscarp, cover, crenellate, curtain, cushion, cut and thrust,
dam, defend, defense, demibastion, dig in, dike, ditch, dodge,
drawbridge, duck, duel, earthwork, embankment, embattle, encircle,
enclose, enclosure, ensure, entanglement, entrench, equivocate,
escarp, escarpment, evade, evade the issue, exchange blows, feint,
fences, fend, fend off, feud, fieldwork, fight, fight a duel, foil,
fortalice, fortification, fortify, garrison, gate, give and take,
give satisfaction, glacis, golden mean, grapple, grapple with,
gravity dam, groin, guarantee, guard, half measures,
half-and-half measures, halfway measures, happy medium, harbor,
haven, hedge, hedgerow, hem, hem and haw, hoarding,
hydraulic-fill dam, immure, impartial, indecisive, independent,
insure, iron curtain, irresolute, jam, jetty, jostle, joust, keep,
keep from harm, leaping weir, levee, logjam, loophole, lunette,
machicolation, make safe, man, man the garrison, maneuver,
mantelet, mean, medium, merlon, mew, middle course, middle ground,
middle way, milldam, mine, mix it up, moat, moderantism,
moderate position, moderateness, moderation, moderatism, mole,
moonshine, mound, mystify, nestle, neutral, neutral ground,
nitpick, obscure, on the fence, outwit, outwork, pale, paling,
palisade, palter, parados, parapet, parry, patent, pen, pick nits,
picket, police, portcullis, postern gate, prevaricate, protect,
pull away, pull back, push, pussyfoot, put off, qualify, quarrel,
quibble, rail, railing, rampart, rassle, ravelin, receiver, recoil,
redan, redoubt, register, restrict, retaining wall,
ride shotgun for, riot, roadblock, rock-fill dam, run a tilt,
safeguard, sally port, scarp, sconce, scramble, screen, scuffle,
seawall, secure, separate, sheer off, shelter, shield, shift,
shift off, shilly-shally, shirk, shove, shrink, shroud, shuffle,
shutter dam, shy, shy away, shy off, sidestep, skirmish, spar,
split hairs, step aside, stockade, stone wall, stonewall, stop,
strive, struggle, surround, swagman, swagsman, swerve, tenaille,
tergiversate, third force, thrust and parry, tilt, tourney,
trellis, tussle, unbiased, uncertain, uncommitted, undecided,
underwrite, unprejudiced, vacillate, vacillating, vallation,
vallum, via media, waffle, wage war, wall, war, ward off, weir,
wicket dam, work, wrestle, zigzag fence
The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003):
fence
n.
1. A sequence of one or more distinguished (out-of-band) characters (or
other data items), used to delimit a piece of data intended to be treated
as a unit (the computer-science literature calls this a sentinel). The NUL
(ASCII 0000000) character that terminates strings in C is a fence. Hex FF
is also (though slightly less frequently) used this way. See zigamorph.
2. An extra data value inserted in an array or other data structure in
order to allow some normal test on the array's contents also to function as
a termination test. For example, a highly optimized routine for finding a
value in an array might artificially place a copy of the value to be
searched for after the last slot of the array, thus allowing the main
search loop to search for the value without having to check at each pass
whether the end of the array had been reached.
3. [among users of optimizing compilers] Any technique, usually exploiting
knowledge about the compiler, that blocks certain optimizations. Used when
explicit mechanisms are not available or are overkill. Typically a hack: ?I
call a dummy procedure there to force a flush of the optimizer's
register-coloring info? can be expressed by the shorter ?That's a fence
procedure?.
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (30 December 2018):
fence
1. A sequence of one or more distinguished (out-of-band)
characters (or other data items), used to delimit a piece of
data intended to be treated as a unit (the computer-science
literature calls this a "sentinel"). The NUL (ASCII 0000000)
character that terminates strings in C is a fence. Hex FF
is also (though slightly less frequently) used this way. See
zigamorph.
2. An extra data value inserted in an array or other data
structure in order to allow some normal test on the array's
contents also to function as a termination test. For example,
a highly optimised routine for finding a value in an array
might artificially place a copy of the value to be searched
for after the last slot of the array, thus allowing the main
search loop to search for the value without having to check at
each pass whether the end of the array had been reached.
3. [among users of optimising compilers] Any technique,
usually exploiting knowledge about the compiler, that blocks
certain optimisations. Used when explicit mechanisms are not
available or are overkill. Typically a hack: "I call a dummy
procedure there to force a flush of the optimiser's
register-colouring info" can be expressed by the shorter
"That's a fence procedure".
[Jargon File]
(1999-01-08)
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:
Fence
(Heb. gader), Num. 22:24 (R.V.). Fences were constructions of
unmortared stones, to protect gardens, vineyards, sheepfolds,
etc. From various causes they were apt to bulge out and fall
(Ps. 62:3). In Ps. 80:12, R.V. (see Isa. 5:5), the psalmist
says, "Why hast thou broken down her fences?" Serpents delight
to lurk in the crevices of such fences (Eccl. 10:8; comp. Amos
5:19).
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
FENCE. A building or erection between two contiguous estates, so as to
divide them; or on the same estate, so as to divide one part from another.
2. Fences are regulated by the local laws. In general, fences on
boundaries are to be built on the line, and the expense, when made no more
expensively than is required by the law, is borne equally between the
parties. See the following cases on the subject. 2 Miles, 337, 395; 2
Greenl. 72; 11 Mass. 294; 3 Wend. 142; 2 Metc. 180; 15 Conn. 526 2 Miles,
447; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.
3. A partition fence is presumed to be the common property of both
owners of the land. 8 B. & C. 257, 259, note a. When built upon the land of
one of them, it is his; but if it were built equally upon the land of both,
at their joint expense, each would be the owner in severalty of the part
standing on his own land. 5 Taunt. 20; 2 Greenl. Ev. 617.