different between fence vs ditch
fence
English
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 edor.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /f?ns/, [f?ns], [f?nts]
- Rhymes: -?ns
Noun
fence (countable and uncountable, plural fences)
- A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter.
- Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
- (by extension) The place whence such a middleman operates.
- Skill in oral debate.
- (obsolete, uncountable) The art or practice of fencing.
- A guard or guide on machinery.
- (figuratively) A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
- (computing, programming) A memory barrier.
Hyponyms
- catch fence
- electric fence
- picket fence
Derived terms
Descendants
- ? Pennsylvania German: Fens
Translations
See also
- wire netting
- wire gauze
Verb
fence (third-person singular simple present fences, present participle fencing, simple past and past participle fenced)
- (transitive) To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
- (transitive) To defend or guard.
- (transitive) 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.
- (intransitive, sports) To engage in the sport of fencing.
- (intransitive, equestrianism) To jump over a fence.
- (intransitive) To conceal the truth by giving equivocal answers; to hedge; to be evasive.
- 1981, A. D. Hope, "His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell," A Book of Answers:
- 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.
- 1981, A. D. Hope, "His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell," A Book of Answers:
Synonyms
- (to sell or buy stolen goods): pawn
Derived terms
- ring-fence, ringfence
Translations
Czech
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [?f?nt?s?]
- Rhymes: -?nts?
- Hyphenation: fen?ce
Noun
fence
- dative singular of fenka
- locative singular of fenka
fence From the web:
- what fence lasts the longest
- what fence is cheapest
- what fences are in troy's life
- what fences (figuratively) are in his life
- what fences (figuratively) are in troy's life
- what fence is best for dogs
- what fence gates don't burn
- what fence material lasts the longest
ditch
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /d?t?/
- Rhymes: -?t?
Etymology 1
From Middle English dich, from Old English d?? (“trench, moat”) from Proto-Germanic *d?kaz (compare Swedish dike, Icelandic díki, West Frisian dyk (“dam”), Dutch dijk (“id.”), German Teich (“pond”)), from Proto-Indo-European *d?eyg?- (“to stick, set up”) (compare Latin f?g? (“to affix, fasten”), Lithuanian diegti (“to prick; plant”), dýgsti (“to geminate, grow”)). Doublet of dike.
Noun
ditch (plural ditches)
- A trench; a long, shallow indentation, as for irrigation or drainage.
- (Ireland) A raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top.
- c. 1947, Patrick Kavanagh, Stony Grey Soil
- You flung a ditch on my vision
- Of beauty, love and truth.
- O stony grey soil of Monaghan
- You burgled my bank of youth!
- 2013, Frank McNally, When Anglophone lines get crossed
- The original ditches were created by digging trenches, as boundaries and/or irrigation. But to the English, the ditch is the trench. Whereas in Ireland, the ditch is the raised bank of earth and the hedgerow on top. (As for the trench, where I come from that’s a sheugh).
- c. 1947, Patrick Kavanagh, Stony Grey Soil
References
Derived terms
Translations
See also
- fosse
- moat
Verb
ditch (third-person singular simple present ditches, present participle ditching, simple past and past participle ditched)
- (transitive) To discard or abandon.
- To deliberately crash-land an airplane on water.
- (intransitive) To deliberately not attend classes; to play hookey.
- (intransitive) To dig ditches.
- (transitive) To dig ditches around.
- (transitive) To throw into a ditch.
Synonyms
- abandon
- discard
- dump
- jettison
- lose
- shed
- See also Thesaurus:junk
Translations
Etymology 2
From earlier deche, from Middle English dechen, from Old English d?can (“to smear, plaster, daub”). More at deech.
Verb
ditch (third-person singular simple present ditches, present participle ditching, simple past and past participle ditched)
- Alternative form of deech
Noun
ditch (usually uncountable, plural ditches)
- Alternative form of deech
ditch From the web:
- what ditch means
- what ditch means in arabic
- what's ditch weed
- what's ditch in french
- ditch meaning in urdu
- what's ditching in spanish
- what's ditch digger
- what's ditch party
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