forted

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of fort.

   The militia forted at the river crossing, raising a log stockade in two days.

   Once the scouts had forted on the ridge, the valley road lay under their guns.

   Note

   Because the verb is regular, one spelling serves as both the simple past (they forted on the ridge) and the participle after have (they had forted by nightfall). The verb is about building (raising fortifications or a strong point) so forted names work done, not a place held. The same spelling doubles as the "sheltered" adjective, which describes people already behind the walls.

2. 2
   adjective

   Settled securely inside a fort, or protected by one.

   By the first snow, the whole settlement was forted behind a log stockade on the bluff.

   With the families safely forted, the scouts rode out to find the raiding party.

   Similarfortified, sheltered

   Oppositeexposed, unprotected, undefended

   Note

   The word describes the people inside rather than the walls. David Crockett, writing in 1834, tells of settlers who had been forted so long and so quietly that they stopped fearing danger and grew careless. It sits after be or had been, and a span of time suits it (forted all winter), because it names a stay as much as a shelter.

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