fort

¹

[ fawrt, fohrt ]

noun

1. a strong or fortified place occupied by troops and usually surrounded by walls, ditches, and other defensive works; a fortress; fortification.
2. any permanent army post.
3. (formerly) a trading post.

fort.

²

abbreviation for

1. fortification.
2. fortified.

fort

/ fɔːt /

noun

1. a fortified enclosure, building, or position able to be defended against an enemy
2. hold the fort informal.
   to maintain or guard something temporarily

Word History and Origins

Origin of fort¹

First recorded in 1550–60; from Middle French, noun use of adjective fort “strong,” from Latin fortis “strong, tough, hardy”

Word History and Origins

Origin of fort¹

C15: from Old French, from fort (adj) strong, from Latin fortis

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. hold the fort,
   1. to defend one's position against attack or criticism.
   2. to maintain the existing state of affairs.

More idioms and phrases containing fort

see hold the fort .

Example Sentences

With the right push, it could take you to just about anywhere — to distant tribal forts, to army bases in Waziristan and to hidden corners of the cities.

From Washington Post

Digging into Des Moines HistoryDes Moines traces its modern-day history back to May of 1843, when Captain James Allen supervised construction of a fort at the place where the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers merge.

From No Straight News

The blanket-draped fort served as the actress’s workstation, with a host of audio producers providing directions via video conference.

From Washington Post

This year, when Davis was asked to hold down the fort without James on the floor in the regular season, the Lakers weren’t anything special, getting outscored by 3 points per 100 possessions, per NBA Advanced Stats.

From FiveThirtyEight

While the liberation of towns and forts is rewarding, it does get repetitive.

From Time

And on Nov. 22, 1963, President Kennedy was offered an “Open Road” by the city of Fort Worth, as was its tradition.

From The Daily Beast

My choice is that it should be required reading by those who run the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

From The Daily Beast

Vincent Fort, a state senator from Georgia, saw big differences between ALEC and SIX.

From The Daily Beast

America already has a cereal cafe, Cereality, which has a store in Virginia and at the Dallas Fort Worth airport.

From The Daily Beast

Take the case of Herx v. Diocese of Fort Wayne, an employment discrimination suit in the Seventh Circuit.

From The Daily Beast

After an eight weeks' siege, a breach having been made, the city surrendered, and a month later the fort followed the example.

From Project Gutenberg

The Mexican artillery soon laid a part of the fort in ruins.

From Project Gutenberg

They soon retired, however, as the Fort was in danger of being attacked from another side.

From Project Gutenberg

He had been wont to do this on other occasions, because the enemy with nine ships was within sight of the fort.

From Project Gutenberg

De l peu d'heures il mourut entre mes mains fort chrestiennement.

From Project Gutenberg