femur 
aspera, along its posterior surface, bearing upon its upper 
extremity, by an oblique neck, a hemispherical head, and 
two trochanters, the greater and the lesser, and expanding 
below into two large condyles, the inner and the outer, 
both of which articulate with the tibia, but neither with 
the fibula. The slenderness of the bone is beyond an 
average for mammals, though in some it is still slenderer. 
Many femora, as of the horse, develop a third trochantcr, 
and also may articulate with both bones of the leg. The 
reception of the head of the femur in the acetabulum is 
such that it articulates altove with all three of the pelvic 
bones, the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis. In birds the 
greater trochanter abuts against the ilium, and thus en- 
ters into the formation of the hip-joint. See also cuts 
under diffitiffrade, Dromafus, and Ichthyosauria. 
3. In cntom., the thigh ; the third joint of the 
leg, between the trochantor and the shank or 
tibia. See cut under corbiculitm. 4f. Inarch., 
tho interstitial member between two channels 
in the triglyph of the Doric order. 
fen 1 (fen), . [< ME. fen, fenne, a fen, marsh, 
bog, mud, < AS. fen, fenn, rarely spelled fan, 
J'/fini, a feu, marsh, bog, mud, = OFries. fenne, 
fenv = D. veen = OHG. fenni, G. fenne = Icel. 
fen, a fen, bog, = Goth, fani, mud. Perhaps 
akin to Gr. Trivof, dirt, filth ; or to Gr. mftj&s = 
L. palws, a marsh: see poo/ 1 .] 1. Low land 
covered wholly or partially with water, but pro- 
ducing sedge, coarse grasses, or other aquatic 
plants ; boggy laud ; a bog ; a marsh : as, the 
bogs in Ireland, or the fens in Lincolnshire, 
Kent, and Cambridgeshire, England. 
A long canal the muddy fen divides. Additon. 
In the dark fens of the Dismal Swamp 
The hunted negro lay. 
Longfellow, Dismal Swamp. 
2. Mud; inire. [Prov. Eng.] 
Thanne her bodies in the/e liggen, 
Thanne schuleu her soulis be in drede. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 26. 
His hoseu . . . 
Al beslombred i\\fen, as he the plow folwed ; 
Twey myteynes, as mete, maad all of cloutes ; 
The fyngers weren for-werd, & fill of fen honged. 
Piers Plowman's Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 427. 
3. A disease affecting hops, caused by a quick- 
growing moss or mold. Imp. Dict. = Syn. 1. 
Swamp, etc. See marsh. 
fen' 2 (fen), v. t. [A corruption of /eKfJ 1 .] To for- 
bid : same as fend 1 : used in this form by boys 
in marbles and other games, in an exclamatory 
way, to check or block, according to under- 
stood rules, some move of an opposing player. 
It occurs in such phrases as "fen rouudings ! " that is, I 
forbid moving around in a circle (as a player might other- 
wise do in order to avoid some obstruction), "fen dubs ! " 
that is. I forbid doubles (said when a player knocks two 
marbles out of the ring, one of which must then be put 
back). The phrase is properly used only by the opposing 
player, but through ignorance of its real meaning it may 
be used also by the player who knocks the marbles out, 
who thereby cuts off the opponent's light to object, and 
pockets both marbles. 
"Go before me, and show me all those dreadful 
places." ... "I am fly," says Jo. "But fen larks, you 
know. Stow hooking it ! " Dickens, Bleak House, xvi. 
fen 3 t, n. [ME., < Ar. fenn, art.] A section in 
the work of the Arabic physician Avicenna, 
called the Canon. 
I suppose that Avicen 
Wroot never in no canon, ne in no fen, 
Mo wonder signes of empoisoning. 
Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale, 1. 428. 
fenauncet, . An obsolete form of finance. 
fenberry (fen'ber'i), n. ; pi. fenberries (-iz). 
The cranberry, Vaccinium Oxycoccus. 
fen-boat (fen'bot), n. A kind of boat used on 
fens or marshes. 
fence (fens), n. [< ME. fence, fens, fense, de- 
fense, guard, an inclosing wall, etc., for de- 
fense; an abbr., by apheresis, of defense, de- 
fence, as/enrfl, q. v., for defend.] 1 . That which 
fends off ; anything that restrains entrance, or 
defends from attack, approach, or injury; de- 
fense; guard. 
Let us be back'd with God, and with the seas, 
Which he hath given tor fence impregnable. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 
In which [grottos], at this time, many families five in 
winter, and drive their cattle into them by night, as a 
fence both against the weather and wild beasts. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 48. 
I wanted no fence against fraud or oppression. 
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, iv. in. 
our own experience has taught us, nevertheless, that 
additional fences against these dangers ought not to be 
omitted. D. Webster, Speech, March 10, 1828. 
He hath no fence when Gardiner ((iiestions him; 
All oozes out. Tennyson, Queen Mary, i. 4. 
2. An inclosure round a yard, field, or other 
tract of ground, or round or along the sides of 
any open space, as part of a large room, a 
bridge, etc. Speciflcally.afenceforlamlisunderstood, 
especially in the United States, to lie a line of posts and 
rails or wire, or of boards or pickets ; but the term is ap- 
2179 
plicahle to a wall, hedge, ditch or trench, bank, or any- 
thing that serves to ^tuanl against unrestricted ingress and 
run 'ss, to obstruct the view, or merely as a tangible divid- 
ing line. By American statutes, boundary-fences between 
adjoining owners are usually required to be 4 feet high 
(in some States 4A), and in good repair, and to consist 
of a suitable structure, or to be a watercourse or other 
barrier which the fence-viewers having jurisdiction shall 
deem sufficient. 
There is an innumerable multitude of very handsome 
bridges, all of a single arch, and without any fence on 
either side, which would be a great inconvenience to a 
city less sober than Venice. 
Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bonn), I. 388. 
Never peep beyond the thorny bound 
Or oaken fence that hems the paddock round. 
Courper, Table-Talk, 1. 583. 
Like three horses that have broken fence, 
And glutted all night long breast-deep in corn. 
Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
Some horses, good performers over any other description 
of fence, will not jump water under any circumstances. 
Encyc. Brit., XII. 197. 
3. A guard, guide, or gage designed to regulate 
or restrict the movement of a tool or machine. 
4. An arm or a projection in a lock which 
enters the gates of the tumblers when they are 
adjusted in proper position and coincidence, 
and at other times prevents such movement of 
the dog or other obstructing member as would 
allow the bolt to be retracted. E. H. Knight. 
5. The arm of the hammer-spring of a gun- 
lock. E. H. Knight. 6. The art of self-de- 
fense, especially by the sword; fencing; skill 
in fencing or sword-play; hence, skill in ar- 
gument and repartee, especially adroitness in 
defending one's position and baffling an oppo- 
nent's attacks. 
I bruised my shin the other day with playing at sword 
and dagger with a master of fence. 
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 
Enjoy your dear wit, and gay rhetorick, 
That hath so well been taught her dazzling fence. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 791. 
7. A purchaser or receiver of stolen goods; the 
keeper of a place for the purchase or reception 
of stolen goods, or the place itself. 
What have you got to say for yourself, you withered old 
fence, eh ? Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxxix. 
The landlady of the "Three Books" was a notorious 
fence, or banker of thieves. Thackeray, Catharine, vii. 
8. An inclosure in which fish are dried, cured, 
and prepared.-cap of fence. See capi.-Coat of 
fence. See coats. _ Doublet of fencet. See doublet. 
Gun fence, a fence built of rails, with one end resting upon 
the ground, the other supported by two crossed stakes. 
Ring fence, a fence which encircles unbrokenly a large 
area, as that of a whole estate. Snake fence, a fence 
made of split rails laid zigzag, with the ends resting on each 
other, and often supported by rough posts in pairs driven 
slantingly into the ground. Also called stake-and-rider 
fence, Viryinia rail fence, worm fence. [U. S.] Sunk 
fence, a fence built in an artificial or natural depression 
of the ground, as a ditch or a watercourse, so that it does 
not project above the general surface. 
They [rooks] flew over the lawn and grounds to alight 
in a great meadow, from which these were separated by a 
sunk fence. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xi. 
To be on the fence, to be uncertain or undecided (as if 
astride of a fence, hesitating on which side to descend), 
as between two opinions ; be neutral or undecided, as be- 
tween parties or persons. [U. S.] 
Every fool knows that a man represents 
Not the fellers that sent him, but them on the fence 
Impartially ready to jump either side, 
And make the first use of a turn o' the tide. 
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 1st ser., iv. 
Wire fence, a fence made of parallel strands of wire, 
generally galvanized, attached to posts placed at suitable 
distances, and tightened. Wire fences have to a large ex- 
tent superseded the more cumbrous forms formerly in use. 
See barbed wire, under barbedl. 
fence (fens), v. ; pret. and pp. fenced, ppr. fen- 
cing. K ME. fencen, fensen; abbr. of defense, 
q. v.] I. trans. 1. To defend; guard; hem in. 
The Chinese have no Hats, Caps, or Turbans ; but when 
they walk abroad, they carry a small Umbrello in their 
Hands, wherewith they/enc their Head from the Sun or 
the Eain, by holding it over their Heads. 
Dampier, Voyages, I. 407. 
The man that utter'd this 
Had perish'd without food, be 't who it will, 
But for this arm, thatfene'd him from the foe. 
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 2. 
The crew of each veas'el made themselves a cabin of 
turf and wood, at some distance from each other, to fence 
themselves against the inclemencies of the weather. 
Addison, Frozen Words. 
2. To obstruct approach to ; divide off. 
Nation I fenced from nation without pity, 
That all might wend toward Babylon alone. 
C. De Kay, Vision of Nimrod, ii. 
3. To inclose with a fence, as a wall, hedge, 
railing, or anything that prevents or might 
prevent entry or egress; secure by an inclo- 
sure. 
fence-time 
The derge don, the prelates and poutificialles to Fence 
the Corps within the rayles. 
Bouke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 34. 
First for your bees a proper station find, 
That's fenced about, and sheltered from the wind. 
Addison, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, Iv. 
4. To parry or thrust aside as if by fencing: 
with off. 
Reasoning of a very similar character is, however, near- 
ly as common now as it was in his [Descartes's] time, and 
does duty largely as a means of fencing o/ disagreeable 
conclusions. J. S. Mill, Logic, V. iii. 8. 
To fence the court, in anc. Scots law, to open the par- 
liament or a court of law by a set form of words. 
They wunna fence the court as they do at the circuit. 
The High Court of Judiciary is aye fenced. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxi. 
To fence the tables, in the churches of Scotland, to de- 
liver a solemn address to communicants at the Lord's 
table immediately before the communion, on the feelings 
appropriate to the occasion, and the danger incurred by 
partaking of the elements unworthily. The address also 
pointed out those who were debarred from partaking of 
the sacrament ; hence it was formerly called debarring. 
Thereafter, \\vfenceth and openeth the tables. 
Pardovan, p. 140. (Jamieson.) 
II. intrans. 1. To raise a fence; provide a 
guard. 
He [man] hath no way to fence against guilty reflections 
but by stopping up all the avenues at which they might 
enter. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xvi. 
This evil had been sufficiently fenced against by the 
Yorick family. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 11. 
2. To practise the art of fencing; use a sword 
or foil for the purpose of self-defense, or of 
learning the art of attack and defense. 
We give some Latin, and a smatch of Greek, 
Teach him to fence and figure twice a-week. 
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 366. 
3. To fight and defend by giving and avoiding 
blows or thrusts. 
They fence and push, and pushing, loudly roar. 
Their dewlaps and their sides are bathed in gore. 
Dry den. 
4. Figuratively, to parry arguments or strive 
by equivocation to baffle an examiner and con- 
ceal the truth, as a dishonest witness. 5. To 
deposit stolen property. [Slang.] 
Old Bill had been fencing with an old bloak in [New] 
York. . . . [Constable] Hays went instantly to the old 
bloak's place, and recovered a large amount of stolen 
property. Philadelphia Press, Dec. 30, 1869. 
fenceful (fens'ful), a. [< fence + -/.] Afford- 
ing defense. 
Taught Artists first the carving Tool to wield, 
Chariots with Brass to arm, and form the fenceful Shield. 
Congreve, Hymn to Venus. 
fenceless (fens'les), a. [< fence + -less.] With- 
out a fence ; uninclosed ; defenseless ; unguard- 
ed ; open : as, the fenceless ocean. 
This now fenceless world 
Forfeit to Death. Milton, P. L., x. 303. 
fence-lizard (fens'liz'ard), n. The common 
small lizard or swift of the United States, Sce- 
lonorus undulatus, one of the few found in the 
Northern and Middle States. It is 5 to 7 inches long, 
of moderately stout form, with long, slender, fragile tail, 
above of some variable dark color, with waved darker 
bands, the throat and sides of the belly of the male bril- 
liant blue and black. 
fence-month (feiis'munth), n. A time during 
which hunting in a forest is prohibited : origi- 
nally applied to the fawning-time of deer, from 
about the middle of June to the middle of July. 
Also defense-month. [Eug.] 
fence-play (fens'pla), re. Fencing. 
Those wiio go to Paris Garden, the Bell Savage, or The- 
atre, to behold bear-baiting, enterludes, or fence-play, 
must not account of any pleasant spectacle, unless first 
they pay one pennie at the gate, another at the entrie of 
the scaffold, and a third for quiet standing. 
Lambarde, Perambulation of Kent, quoted in Strutt's 
[Sports and Pastimes, p. 349. 
fencer (fen'ser), . [(fence, v., + -er 1 . In 2d 
sense</ence, n.,2, + -er 1 .] 1. One who fences; 
one who teaches or practises the art of fencing 
with sword or foil. 
The Precentor in the Synagogue taketh a bundle of 
boughs, and blesseth and shaketh them, . . . and moueth 
them three times to the East, and as often to the West, 
and to the N. and S. and then vp and downe like a Fencer, 
and then shaketh them againe, as hauing now put the 
Deuill to flight. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 207. 
2. A horse good at leaping fences or other ob- 
structions : said generally of a hunter. 
fence-rooft (fens'rof), n. A roof or covering in- 
tended as a defense. 
The Romans . . . having set their flanks thieke thrust 
together, and fitted their shields close one to another in 
manner of &fence-roufe, stood their ground and resisted. 
Holland, tr. of Ammianns, 1609. 
fence-time (fens'tim), n. Same as close-time. 
[Eng.] 
