fences

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of fence.

   Tall iron fences surrounded the old estate.

   Workers installed new fences along the property line.

   Note

   Every countable meaning of fence takes this plural. Fences can be barriers or guards on machinery. Informally, they can also be the middlemen who buy and sell stolen goods. The uncountable senses take no plural: skill in debate, and the obsolete art of swordplay. The same spelling also serves as the present-tense verb. After a subject, fences usually names an action, not objects.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of fence.

   The rancher fences the new pasture before moving the herd.

   She fences for the national team and trains six days a week.

   Note

   Whether an object follows does most of the work here. With one, fences encloses or guards something, or trades in stolen goods: he fences watches out of a back room. Without one, it is the sport, a horse jumping a fence, or a speaker dodging. A witness who fences under questioning is hedging, not fighting.

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