Fencing Is a Sport, a Boundary, and a Crime
Fencing means sword sport, the fences around a field, and dealing in stolen goods. The first two share a root; the third is a joke that stuck.
Fencing is three things at once. The sport and the barrier share an origin in *defence* — a fence defends a field, and fencing began as the art of defending yourself. The criminal sense came later: a *fence* is the middleman who receives stolen goods, standing between thief and buyer like a barrier.
- The sport of sword fighting. *She took up fencing at school.*
- Fences, or material for them. *Wire fencing.*
- Dealing in stolen goods. *Charged with fencing jewellery.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | fencing | Post-and-rail fencing. |
| Verb | fence | Fence the paddock. |
| Person | fencer | An Olympic fencer. |
| Noun | fence | A wooden fence. |
| Phrase | on the fence | Sitting on the fence. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Fencing is one of the few sports at every modern Olympics.True since 1896.
- They replaced the fencing along the boundary.Uncountable, meaning material.
- He is sitting on the fence until the vote.Refusing to take a side.
The three weapons
- Foil — light, thrusting only, target is the torso
- Épée — heavier, thrusting only, the whole body counts
- Sabre — cutting and thrusting, target above the waist
- Piste — the strip fencers move along
- Touché — French for touched, now used for conceding a point in argument
*Fence* is a shortened form of *defence*, from Latin *defendere*. The sporting and the agricultural senses both grew from that shortening, and the stolen-goods sense is recorded from the seventeenth century.
Why is a receiver of stolen goods called a fence?
Because he stands between the thief and the market, like a screen. The slang is at least three hundred years old.
What does *sitting on the fence* mean?
Refusing to choose between two sides, from the image of someone perched on the boundary between two fields.