FENCE, n. fens. [See Fend.]

1. A wall, hedge, ditch, bank or line of posts and rails, or of boards or pickets, intended to confine beasts from straying, and to guard a field from being entered by cattle, or from other encroachments. A good farmer has good fences about his farm; an insufficient fence is evidence of bad management. Broken windows and poor fences are evidences of idleness or poverty or of both.
2. A guard; any thing to restrain entrance; that which defends from attack, approach or injury; security; defense. A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath. Addison.
3. Fencing, or the art of fencing; defense. Shak.
4. Skill in fencing or defense. Ring-fence. A fence which encircles a whole estate.

1. To practice the art of fencing; to use a sword or foil, for the purpose of learning the art of attack and defense. To fence well is deemed a useful accomplishment for military gentlemen.
2. To fight and defend by giving and avoiding blows or thrusts. They fence and push, and, pushing, loudly roar, / Their dewlaps and their aides are bathed in gore. Dryden.
3. To raise a fence; to guard. It is difficult to fence against unruly cattle.

1. To inclose with a hedge, wall, or any thing that prevents the escape or entrance of cattle; to cure by an inclosure. In New England, farmers, for the most part, fence their lands with posts and rails, or with, stone walls. In England, lands are usually fenced with hedges and ditches. He hath fenced my way that I can not pass. Job xix.
2. To guard; to fortify. So much of adder's wisdom I have learnt, / To fence my car against thy sorceries. Milton.

1. That which fends off attack or danger; a defense; a protection; a cover; security; shield.
   
   

   Let us be backed with God and with the seas,
   Which he hath given for fence impregnable. Shak.

   A fence betwixt us and the victor's wrath. Addison.

2. To fend off danger from] to give security to; to protect; to guard.
   
   

   To fence my ear against thy sorceries. Milton.

3. To make a defense; to guard one's self of anything, as against an attack; to give protection or security, as by a fence.
   
   

   Vice is the more stubborn as well as the more dangerous evil, and therefore, in the first place, to be fenced against. Locke.

4. 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.
   
   

   Leaps o'er the fence with ease into the fold. Milton.

   * In England a hedge, ditch, or wall, as well as a structure of boards, palings, or rails, is called a fence.

5. To inclose with a fence or other protection; to secure by an inclosure.
   
   

   O thou wall! . . . dive in the earth,
   And fence not Athens. Shak.

   A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees. Shak.

   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.

6. To practice the art of attack and defense with the sword or with the foil, esp. with the smallsword, using the point only.
   
   

   He will fence with his own shadow. Shak.

7. A projection on the bolt, which passes through the tumbler gates in locking and unlocking.
8. Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc.
   
   

   They fence and push, and, pushing, loudly roar;
   Their dewlaps and their sides are bat(?)ed in gore. Dryden.

   As when a billow, blown against,
   Falls back, the voice with which I fenced
   A little ceased, but recommenced. Tennyson.

9. 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.
   
   

   Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetoric,
   That hath so well been taught her dazzing fence. Milton.

   Of dauntless courage and consummate skill in fence. Macaulay.

10. A receiver of stolen goods, or a place where they are received.
    
    
    [Slang] Mayhew.

    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.]