fence
part of speech
noun (fence, fences); verb (fence, fences, fenced, fencing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A fence is a wall of wood, metal or wire around a garden or field. tree →
2) To fence something in is to put a fence around it. tree →
3) Fencing is a sport of fighting with long thin swords. tree →
4) A fence can also be a strong defence or protection against harm. tree →
sense in the lessons
a place where birds and storks sit, or a thing built and measured in feet or metres; the length of fence round a field is its perimeter; phrases: «on the fence», «garden fence», «fence posts», «sit on the fence» (not choose a side)
examples
- 3 birds were sitting on the fence. tree →
- He built a fence 40 feet long. tree →
- The fence has 12 posts. tree →
- How many more birds than storks are on the fence? tree →
- The cat jumped over the fence. tree →
- How much fence goes round a field 10 metres by 5 metres? tree →
- Dad painted the fence green. tree →
- Don't climb the fence; it is not safe. tree →
- "Ho, thou firm fence of mine, be thou divided! tree →
note
A place, not usually counted. Trap: the things on the fence are counted, not the fence; a fence's length may be a measure in feet. Trap: a straight fence with N gaps needs N + 1 posts.
In the corpora
- Neighbours sometimes disagree about hedges, fences, noise or rubbish, and most disputes are solved by a friendly chat.
- Grown-ups love swapping it over the fence, and a lot of it is harmless fun.
- Rabbits do eat crops and young vegetables, so farmers see them as pests and fence their fields.
- In Kenya, farmers hang beehives along fences, and the elephants keep away from their fields.
- Some farmers smear fences with chilli and grease or burn chilli bricks, because chilli stings elephants' sensitive trunks.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «fence» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.