different between rampart vs fence

English

Etymology

From Old French rempart (“a rampart of a fort”), from remparer (“to defend, fortify, inclose with a rampart”), from re- (“again”) + emparer (“to defend, fortify, surround, seize, take possesion of”), from en- + parer (“to defend”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??æm.p??(?)t/

Noun

rampart (plural ramparts)

1. A defensive mound of earth or a wall with a broad top and usually a stone parapet; a wall-like ridge of earth, stones or debris; an embankment for defensive purpose.
2. A defensive structure; a protective barrier; a bulwark.
3. That which defends against intrusion from outside; a protection.
4. (usually in the plural) A steep bank of a river or gorge.

Translations

Verb

rampart (third-person singular simple present ramparts, present participle ramparting, simple past and past participle ramparted)

1. To defend with a rampart; fortify or surround with a rampart.
   • 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Ode on the Departing Year

     Those grassy hills, those glittering dells, / Proudly ramparted with rocks.

Derived terms

• ramparted

Related terms

• fraise

Translations

Further reading

• rampart in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• rampart in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• rampart at OneLook Dictionary Search

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)

1. A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter.
2. Someone who hides or buys and sells stolen goods, a criminal middleman for transactions of stolen goods.
3. (by extension) The place whence such a middleman operates.
4. Skill in oral debate.
5. (obsolete, uncountable) The art or practice of fencing.
6. A guard or guide on machinery.
7. (figuratively) A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
8. (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)

1. (transitive) To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
2. (transitive) To defend or guard.
3. (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.

4. (intransitive, sports) To engage in the sport of fencing.
5. (intransitive, equestrianism) To jump over a fence.
6. (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.

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

1. dative singular of fenka
2. locative singular of fenka