FENCING • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Fencing

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/fˈɛnsɪŋ/ Listen

noun

Fencing n.

1.

The art or practice of attack and defense with the sword, esp. with the smallsword. See Fence, v. i., 2.

2.

Disputing or debating in a manner resembling the art of fencers.

3.

The materials used for building fences. (U.S.)

4.

The act of building a fence.

5.

The aggregate of the fences put up for inclosure or protection; as, the fencing of a farm.

verb

Fence v. t. (past & past part. fenced; pres. part. fencing)

1.

To fend off danger from; to give security to; to protect; to guard. "To fence my ear against thy sorceries."

2.

To inclose with a fence or other protection; to secure by an inclosure. "O thou wall!... dive in the earth, And fence not Athens." "A sheepcote fenced about with olive trees."

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.

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

2.

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."

3.

Hence, to fight or dispute in the manner of fencers, that is, by thrusting, guarding, parrying, etc. "As when a billow, blown against, Falls back, the voice with which I fenced A little ceased, but recommenced."

See images of 'Fencing'

Etymology of 'Fencing'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Fencing" Quotes from Famous Books

... the article written by Cosmo Monkhouse in the Dictionary of National Biography, and from it we are enabled to present a few items about the man's career. He was born at Hayden Bridge, near Hexham, Northumberland, July 19, 1789. His father, Fenwick Martin, a fencing-master, held classes at the Chancellor's Head, Newcastle. His brothers, Jonathan (1782-1838) and William (1772-1851), have some claim on our notice, for the first was an insane prophet and incendiary, having set fire to York Minster in 1829; William was a natural philosopher and poet ...

— Promenades of an Impressionist • James Huneker

... knight? An. What is purquoy? Do, or not do? I would I had bestowed that time in the tongues, that I haue in fencing dancing, and beare-bayting: O had ...

— The First Folio [35 Plays] • William Shakespeare

... seemed inclined to pick a quarrel either with the ebullient Gascon or the hesitating Norman. The six bullies at the table knew well enough, and savage, masterful AEsop at the window knew well enough, that the swaggering Gascon was the first fencing-master in Paris, and that his colleague, the Norman, for all his air of ineffable timidity, was only second to him in skill with the weapon and readiness to use it. There was a moment's silence, and then Cocardasse observed: "I'm afraid of just ...

— The Duke's Motto - A Melodrama • Justin Huntly McCarthy

... oil-producing land went to bed in the evening poor and owing money at the bank, and awoke in the morning rich. They moved into the towns and invested their money in the factories that sprang up everywhere. In one county in southern Michigan, over five hundred patents for woven wire farm fencing were taken out in one year, and almost every patent was a magnet about which a company for the manufacture of fence formed itself. A vast energy seemed to come out of the breast of earth and infect the people. Thousands of the most energetic men of the middle States wore themselves ...

— Poor White • Sherwood Anderson

... best chance of saving them. Let us wait here. Fortunately their firearms are useless, and they must trust to the sword. Just fancy you are engaged in a fencing bout in the courtyard, Monsieur Edmond, and we ...

— For The Admiral • W.J. Marx

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