fence

noun

investment strategy
freestanding structure preventing movement across a boundary
straight edge in woodworking

L14415 on Wikidata ↗

verb

swashbuckling sport

L14416 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /fɛns/ / [fɛns] / [fɛnts]

noun

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).

A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.
“There was a weak place in the fence separating the two inclosures”
“From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.”
Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
“The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.”
“The Finn was a fence, a trafficker in stolen goods, primarily in software. In the course of this business, he sometimes came into contact with other fences, some of whom dealt in the more traditional articles of the trade.”
The place whence such a middleman operates.
Skill in oral debate.
The art or practice of fencing.
“I bruised my shin th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence”
A guard or guide on machinery.
A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
“I was in your arms Thinking I belonged there I figured it made sense Building me a fence”
A prohibition enacted to prevent violation of another more primary rule.
“For quite other reasons Jewish religious authorities, too, restricted the size of the orchestra. They sought to erect a "fence" against hilarity and gaiety, out of respect for their ever remembered "Destruction."”
A memory barrier.
The boundary.

verb

To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
“[…] pray you, if you know, Where in the purlieus of this forest stands A sheep-cote fenc’d about with olive trees?”
“[…] O thou wall, That girdlest in those wolves, dive in the earth, And fence not Athens.”
To defend or guard.
“Cosin, our hands I hope shall fence our heads, And strike off his that makes you threaten vs.”
“[…] I have learn’t To fence my ear against thy sorceries.”
To engage in the selling or buying of stolen goods.
“The Bat—they called him the Bat.[…]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.”
To engage in the sport of fencing.
“Challenges are flying right and left between these bully-swordsmen, these spadassinicides, and poor devils of the robe who have never learnt to fence with anything but a quill.”
To jump over a fence.
To conceal the truth by giving equivocal answers; to hedge; to be evasive.
“A lady, sir, as you will find, / Keeps counsel, or she speaks her mind, / Means what she says and scorns to fence / And palter with feigned innocence.”
“You only give me ten minutes. If I am to put my case before you, Mr Carrados, we cannot fence with phrases...”