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Fence vs Trench - What's the difference?

fence | trench | Related terms |

As nouns the difference between fence and trench

is that fence is a thin, human-constructed barrier which separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter while trench is a long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.

As verbs the difference between fence and trench

is that fence is to enclose, contain or separate by building fence while trench is to invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.

fence

English

(wikipedia fence)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A thin, human-constructed barrier which separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter.
  • *1865 , (Horatio Alger), , Ch.XVII:
  • *:There was a weak place in the fence separating the two inclosures
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences , walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}
  • A middleman for transactions 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.
  • #The place whence such a middleman operates.
  • Skill in oral debate.
  • The art or practice of fencing.
  • *1599 , (William Shakespeare), ,
  • *:I bruised my shin th' other day with playing at sword and dagger with a master of fence
  • A guard or guide on machinery.
  • (lb) A barrier, for example an emotional barrier.
  • *1980 , (ABBA), (The Winner Takes It All)
  • I was in your arms / Thinking I belonged there
  • A memory barrier.
  • Synonyms

    * (middleman) pawn * (place where a middleman operates) pawn shop

    Derived terms

    * catch fence * electric fence * fencepost * fencing * good fences make good neighbors * picket fence

    See also

    * wire netting * wire gauze

    Verb

    (fenc)
  • (lb) To enclose, contain or separate by building fence.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:O thou wall!dive in the earth, / And fence not Athens.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:a sheepcote fenced about with olive trees
  • *1856 , , ,
  • *:Here are twenty acres of land, and it is all you can properly farm, unless you have more help than yourself. Now fence and cultivate it, and you can make an abundant living.
  • (lb) To defend or guard.
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:To fence my ear against thy sorceries.
  • (lb) 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.
  • To engage in (the sport) fencing.
  • *1921 , (Rafael Sabatini), ,
  • *:Challenges are flying right and left between these bully-swordsmen, these spadassinicides, and poor devils of the robe who have never learnt to fence with anything but a quill.
  • To jump over a fence.
  • Synonyms

    * (to sell or buy stolen goods) pawn

    trench

    English

    (wikipedia trench)

    Noun

    (es)
  • A long, narrow ditch or hole dug in the ground.
  • (military) A narrow excavation as used in warfare, as a cover for besieging or emplaced forces.
  • (archaeology) A pit, usually rectangular with smooth walls and floor, excavated during an archaeological investigation.
  • (informal) A trench coat.
  • * 1999 , April 24, Xiphias Gladius , "Re: trenchcoat mafia", ne.general.selected , Usenet:
  • I was the first person in my high school to wear a trench' and fedora constantly, and Ben was one of the first to wear a black ' trench .
  • * 2007 , (Nina Garcia), The Little Black Book of Style'', HarperCollins, as excerpted in , October, page 138:
  • A classic trench can work in any kind of weather and goes well with almost anything.

    Derived terms

    * * entrench * in the trenches * trench boot * trench coat * trench knife * trench mortar * trench mouth * trench warfare

    Verb

    (es)
  • (usually, followed by upon) To invade, especially with regard to the rights or the exclusive authority of another; to encroach.
  • * 1640 , (Ben Jonson), Underwoods , page 68:
  • Shee is the Judge, Thou Executioner, Or if thou needs would'st trench upon her power, Thou mightst have yet enjoy'd thy crueltie, With some more thrift, and more varietie.
  • * I. Taylor
  • Does it not seem as if for a creature to challenge to itself a boundless attribute, were to trench upon the prerogative of the divine nature?
  • * 1949 , (Charles Austin Beard), American Government and Politics , page 16:
  • He could make what laws he pleased, as long as those laws did not trench upon property rights.
  • * 2005 , Carl von Clausewitz, J. J. Graham, On War , page 261:
  • [O]ur ideas, therefore, must trench upon the province of tactics.
  • (military, infantry) To excavate an elongated pit for protection of soldiers and or equipment, usually perpendicular to the line of sight toward the enemy.
  • * Shakespeare
  • No more shall trenching war channel her fields.
    (Alexander Pope)
  • (archaeology) To excavate an elongated and often narrow pit.
  • To have direction; to aim or tend.
  • (Francis Bacon)
  • To cut; to form or shape by cutting; to make by incision, hewing, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The wide wound that the boar had trenched / In his soft flank.
  • * Shakespeare
  • This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice, which with an hour's heat / Dissolves to water, and doth lose its form.
  • To cut furrows or ditches in.
  • to trench land for the purpose of draining it
  • To dig or cultivate very deeply, usually by digging parallel contiguous trenches in succession, filling each from the next.
  • to trench a garden for certain crops
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