fosse

¹ American  

[fos, faws] / fɒs, fɔs /

Or foss

noun

1. a moat or defensive ditch in a fortification, usually filled with water.

2. any ditch, trench, or canal.

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Fosse ² American  

[fos-ee] / ˈfɒs i /

noun

1. Robert Louis Bob, 1927–87, U.S. dancer, choreographer, and theater and film director.

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fosse British  

/ fɒs /

noun

1. a ditch or moat, esp one dug as a fortification

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Etymology

Origin of fosse

1350–1400; Middle English < Middle French < Latin fossa fossa ¹

Example Sentences

Although this is not the biggest of the Icelandic “fosses”, the magic of the place was palpable.

From The Guardian

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 Literature

Heaving dirt from a pit, I would hear on another man’s breath some song half-sung in time to his swing; the engineers called their instructions, wending their way through our deep, loamy fosses.

From Literature

The great fosse by which it was once surrounded is entirely obliterated save on the west side, where it is nearly twenty feet in depth.

From Project Gutenberg

A surly arquebusier with a steel cap on his head, his gun upon his shoulder, and the rest thereof in his hand, was the first person that he encountered at the bridge over the fosse.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dike
• foxhole
• gorge
• gully
• moat
• pit
• trough
• waterway