Definition of "fence" in English

noun

1. A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or forms a perimeter enclosing the lands of a house, building, etc.

2. (informal) 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. (programming) A memory barrier.

9. (cricket) The boundary.

verb

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.

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.