Picture a line built along the edge of a piece of land — wood, wire, or rail — that decides what stays in and what stays out. That barrier guarding a boundary is the picture the whole word grows from; even its stranger senses (the sword sport, the sit-on-it stance) trace back to this idea of a defended line.
From the word’s history
'Fence' is a clipped form of 'defence' (early 14c.), from Latin 'defendere' = ward off. It first meant the act or means of defence; the sense 'an enclosure' grew from 'that which serves as a defence' by the mid-1400s. That shared root is why one word still holds both the wall around a field and the sport of defending yourself with a blade.
fence 是 defence(防禦)砍短來的字(14世紀初),源自拉丁文 defendere『擋開、保護』。它最早指的是『防禦的行為或手段』;到15世紀中,才從『用來防禦的東西』延伸出『圍起來的界線』。正是這個共同的字根,讓『田邊的圍籬』和『用劍防守自己的運動』會共用同一個字。
etymonline.com/word/fence; Wiktionary 'fence' (aphetic shortening of 'defence' < Latin defendere)
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原始詞典資料16 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
fencenoun/fɛns/
- 1
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.
- 2
informalSomeone 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.
- 3
The place whence such a middleman operates.
- 4
Skill in oral debate.
- 5
obsoleteThe art or practice of fencing.
- I bruised my shin th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence
- 6
A guard or guide on machinery.
- 7
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
- 8
lawA 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."
另外 2 個記錄的用法
- 9
computingengineeringmathematicsA memory barrier.
- 10
ball-gamescricketgamesThe boundary.
fenceverb/fɛns/
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
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.
- 4
hobbieslifestylesportsTo engage in the sport of fencing (against).
- 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.
- 5
equestrianismhobbieshorsesTo jump over a fence.
- 6
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...
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。