a moat or defensive ditch in a fortification, usually filled with water.
any ditch, trench, or canal.
1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin fossa fossa 1
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There was a road paved with white stone running on the outer brink of the fosse.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Beyond it was a deep fosse lost in soft shadow, but the grass upon its brink was green, as if it glowed still in memory of the sun that had gone.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
Joan, cheering on her brave forces, and calling on them to follow, seized a scaling-ladder, and ascended the enemy's breastworks, when she was pierced with an arrow in the shoulder, and fell into the fosse.
From Nature and Culture by Rice, Harvey
At one moment she had bent over the battlement so far that Zagloba seized her by the waist, lest she might fall to the fosse.
From Pan Michael An Historical Novel of Poland, the Ukraine, and Turkey. by Sienkiewicz, Henryk
Warton, in his Account of Kiddington, Oxon, p. 62., edition 1815, observes that Stukeley describes a fosse called Grimsditch, near Ditchley House, between Stunsfield and Chipping Norton, the vallum of which was eastward.
Lucy Kemp, a strategic brand and communications leader at the IT company La Fosse and an employee experience specialist, agrees.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Fosse suggests, through the Emcee, that though the West’s relationship to queerness may bear the pattern of a sine wave, the Grande Human Cabaret can never metaphorically or spiritually close.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2025
When forced by Pozzo to dance, Mr. Thornton merely doffs his bowler hat rhythmically a few times in a funny nod to Bob Fosse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2025
Rose was roundly criticized for the play in what was a glorified exhibition game but said he was merely trying to win and that Fosse, without the ball, was blocking the plate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 30, 2024
As directed by Bob Fosse on Broadway, the dancing was raucous, and the themes—Pippin’s relationships with multiple women, his struggles with authority and the church—were overtly presented.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
