fenced, ppl. a.
(fɛnst)
[f. prec. + -ed1.]
In various senses of the vb. a. Furnished with defences, fortified. Now only in Biblical phraseology. b. Provided with a hedge or rail, railed off, enclosed. lit. and fig. Also fenced in. c. Sc. Law. Poinded; see fence v. 8 c.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 155/1 Fencyd, or defencyd, defensus, munitus, defensatus. 1535 Coverdale Judith iii. 6 Holofernes..conquered all stronge fensed cities. 1600 Fairfax Tasso ii. lxxv, In fensed towres bestowed is their graine. 1611 Bible 2 Kings xvii. 9 They built them high places..from the tower of the watchmen, to the fenced city. 1637 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 207 Fenced goods that ye can⁓not intromit with. 1746–7 Hervey Medit. (1818) 203, I might have beheld our fenced cities encompassed with armies. 1853 Marsden Early Purit. 77 The fenced enclosures of a university. 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings xii. 198 He speaks..of its villages and fenced cities. 1957 New Yorker 29 June 64/3 An enormous, fenced-in storage area piled high with crates and packages. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. Suppl. 1 He..pushed the pair of us into a..fenced-in yard. |