Fence

10 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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              Let us be backed with God and with the seas,


              Which he hath given for fence impregnable. --Shak.
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              A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath.
                                                    --Addison.
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     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.
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              Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold.
                                                    --Milton.
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     Note: In England a hedge, ditch, or wall, as well as a
           structure of boards, palings, or rails, is called a
           fence.
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     3. (Locks) A projection on the bolt, which passes through the
        tumbler gates in locking and unlocking.
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     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}.
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              Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,
              That hath so well been taught her dazzing fence.
                                                    --Milton.
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              Of dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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     5. A receiver of stolen goods, or a place where they are
        received. [Slang] --Mayhew.
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     {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.]
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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              To fence my ear against thy sorceries. --Milton.
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     2. To inclose with a fence or other protection; to secure by
        an inclosure.
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              O thou wall! . . . dive in the earth,
              And fence not Athens.                 --Shak.
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              A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees. --Shak.
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     {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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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              Vice is the more stubborn as well as the more
              dangerous evil, and therefore, in the first place,
              to be fenced against.                 --Locke.
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     2. To practice the art of attack and defense with the sword
        or with the foil, esp. with the smallsword, using the
        point only.
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              He will fence with his own shadow.    --Shak.
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     3. Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that
        is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc.
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              They fence and push, and, pushing, loudly roar;
              Their dewlaps and their sides are bat?ed in gore.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              As when a billow, blown against,
              Falls back, the voice with which I fenced
              A little ceased, but recommenced.     --Tennyson.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fence
       n 1: a barrier that serves to enclose an area [syn: {fencing}]
       2: a dealer in stolen property
       v 1: enclose with a fence; "we fenced in our yard" [syn: {fence
            in}]
       2: receive stolen goods
       3: fight with fencing swords
       4: surround with a wall in order to fortify [syn: {wall}, {palisade},
           {fence in}, {surround}]
       5: have an argument about something [syn: {argue}, {contend}, {debate}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  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
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  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".
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  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)
       
       

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  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).
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  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. 
  
  

From U.S. Gazetteer (1990) [gazetteer]:

  Fence, WI
    Zip code(s): 54120