fosse
or foss
[fos, faws]
- a moat or defensive ditch in a fortification, usually filled with water.
- any ditch, trench, or canal.
Origin of fosse
Fosse
[fos-ee]
- Robert LouisBob, 1927–87, U.S. dancer, choreographer, and theater and film director.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fosse
Contemporary Examples
Like Fosse did with Cabaret, Marshall excised two major characters: the Narrator and the Mysterious Man.
Fosse uses poetic dialogue, with rhythmic repetitions and silences, to dramatize life and loneliness.
One such thing is Katie Holmes slinking around in all-black and doing her best Fosse while crooning “Hit Me With a Hot Note.”
‘American Horror Story’ Sings “The Name Game” and 12 Other Bizarre TV Musical Numbers (VIDEO)Kevin Fallon
January 8, 2013
I want to be the next Mr. Fosse, and put musicals together and create my own movement.
Historical Examples
Until he, Ercwlf, Descended into the fosse of the rampart, And was covered with sand.
Y GododinAneurin
He leaped from the wall into the fosse, a height of thirty feet and upwards.
Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume II (of II)Charles James Lever
Then she returned, took her banner, and stood on the brink of the fosse.
The Red True Story BookVarious
Standard in hand, the Maid leaped into the fosse near the pig market.
The Red True Story BookVarious
The Count is at this moment cooling his heels in the fosse cell.
Doom CastleNeil Munro
fosse
foss
- a ditch or moat, esp one dug as a fortification
Word Origin
C14: from Old French, from Latin fossa; see fossa 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fosse
n.
early 14c. (late 13c. in place names), "ditch, trench," mid-15c., from Old French fosse "ditch, grave, dungeon" (12c.), from Latin fossa "ditch," in full fossa terra, literally "dug earth," from fem. past participle of fodere "to dig" (see fossil).
The Fosse-way (early 12c.), one of the four great Roman roads of Britain, probably was so called from the ditch on either side of it.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper