[fens] 
noun, verb, fenced, fenc⋅ing.| 1. | a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary. |
| 2. | Informal. a person who receives and disposes of stolen goods. |
| 3. | the place of business of such a person. |
| 4. | the act, practice, art, or sport of fencing. |
| 5. | skill in argument, repartee, etc. |
| 6. | Machinery. a guard or guide, as for regulating the movements of a tool or work. |
| 7. | Carpentry. a slotted guide used esp. with a framing square to lay out cuts on rafters and staircase strings. |
| 8. | Archaic. a means of defense; a bulwark. |
| 9. | to enclose by some barrier, establishing exclusive right to possession: to fence a farm. |
| 10. | to separate by or as by a fence or fences (often fol. by in, off, out, etc.): to fence off a corner of one's yard; to fence out unwholesome influences. |
| 11. | to defend; protect; guard: The president was fenced by bodyguards wherever he went. |
| 12. | to ward off; keep out. |
| 13. | Informal. to sell (stolen goods) to a fence. |
| 14. | Nautical. to reinforce (an opening in a sail or the like) by sewing on a grommet or other device. |
| 15. | to practice the art or sport of fencing. |
| 16. | to parry arguments; strive to avoid giving direct answers; hedge: The mayor fenced when asked if he would run again. |
| 17. | (of a horse) to leap over a fence. |
| 18. | Obsolete. to raise a defense. |
| 19. | mend one's fences, to strengthen or reestablish one's position by conciliation or negotiation: One could tell by his superficially deferential manner that he was trying to mend his fences. |
| 20. | on the fence, uncommitted; neutral; undecided: The party leaders are still on the fence. |
fence
fence in
Also, hem in. Restrict or confine someone, as in He wanted to take on more assignments but was fenced in by his contract, or Their father was old-fashioned and the children were hemmed in by his rules. Both expressions transfer a literal form of enclosure to a figurative one. The first gained currency from a popular song in the style of a cowboy folk song by Cole Porter, "Don't Fence Me In" (1944), in which the cowboy celebrates open land and starry skies. The variant is much older, dating from the late 1500s.
