palisade

[pal-uh-seyd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR palisade ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a fence of pales or stakes set firmly in the ground, as for enclosure or defense.

any of a number of pales or stakes pointed at the top and set firmly in the ground in a close row with others to form a defense.

Botany. palisade parenchyma.

palisades, a line of cliffs.

verb (used with object), pal·i·sad·ed, pal·i·sad·ing.

to furnish or fortify with a palisade.

Origin of palisade

1590–1600; < French palissade < Old Provençal palissada, equivalent to paliss(a) paling (derivative of pal stake, pale²) + -ada -ade¹

Related formsun·pal·i·sad·ed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for palisade

slope, fence, barrier, bluff, defense, stockade, enclosure, cliff

Examples from the Web for palisade

Historical Examples of palisade

They shoot between the logs of the palisade down the narrow lane.
The Leopard Woman
Stewart Edward White
There is a gateway through this palisade where you can go in.
Rollo in Paris
Jacob Abbott
I froze on to the nearest daku and ran to the palisade, shoving him in front of me.
Soldiers Three, Part II.
Rudyard Kipling
I doubled up on the top of the palisade and hung there, yelling with laughter.
Soldiers Three, Part II.
Rudyard Kipling
The hunters were soon at the palisade door and admitted; they had no game with them.
The Settlers in Canada
Frederick Marryat

British Dictionary definitions for palisade

palisade

noun

a strong fence made of stakes driven into the ground, esp for defence

one of the stakes used in such a fence

botany a layer of elongated mesophyll cells containing many chloroplasts, situated below the outer epidermis of a leaf blade

verb

(tr) to enclose with a palisade

Word Origin for palisade

C17: via French, from Old Provençal palissada, ultimately from Latin pālus stake; see pale ², pole 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 palisade

"a fence of stakes," c.1600, from Middle French palissade (15c.), from Provençal palissada, from palissa "a stake or paling," from Gallo-Romance *palicea, from Latin palus "stake" (see pale (n.)). Military sense is attested from 1690s. The Palisades, along the Hudson River opposite New York City, so called by 1823.