palisade

American  

[pal-uh-sayd] / ˌpæl əˈseɪd /

noun

• palisades
  plural

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

2. 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.

3. Botany. palisade parenchyma.

4. palisades, a line of cliffs.

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verb (used with object)

palisaded, palisading

1. to furnish or fortify with a palisade.

palisade British  

/ ˌpælɪˈseɪd /

noun

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

2. one of the stakes used in such a fence

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

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verb

1. (tr) to enclose with a palisade

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unpalisaded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• palisades
  plural

Etymology

Origin of palisade

1590–1600; < French palissade < Old Provençal palissada, equivalent to paliss ( a ) paling (derivative of pal stake, pale ² ) + -ada -ade ¹

Explanation

A palisade is a heavy-duty fence that's strong enough to keep out intruders, like one you might see around a military camp. Traditionally, palisades were built with wooden stakes around small forts or castles as a way to keep out enemies. There's evidence that this kind of fence was often used in ancient Greece and Rome. More modern palisades are made out of metal and give protection to houses in dangerous neighborhoods, for example. The root word is the Latin palus, which means "stake."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

palisade palisades palisaded palisading

In the city of New Amsterdam, they grew crops and constructed important sites, including the palisade in 1653 that gave today’s Wall Street its name.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

At Amnya, her team also noted a possible sign of social stratification, another development often linked to agriculture: a cluster of houses that sat, undefended, outside the palisade.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 29, 2023

Buckingham Palace was taken aback, and it responded with a terse, 61-word statement that sought to contain the drama within the familiar royal palisade of privacy.

From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022

Below the palisade parenchyma are loosely arranged cells of an irregular shape.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

We manage to save a good part of the palisade, but the houses are virtually gone, along with everything in them.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

With room inside for dozens of people and dwellings sunk almost 2 meters deep for warmth in Siberian winters, the fortresses were ringed by earthen walls several meters high and topped with wooden palisades.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 29, 2023

The noodle house may be hard to find because it’s literally overshadowed by the palisades of the Great Wall Shopping Mall nearby.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 8, 2022

The trolley ran along the bluff overlooking the palisades of the Potomac.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 6, 2021

They made houses from bent saplings covered with bark, mats, or hides, and sometimes surrounded their villages with log palisades.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

And yet Odysseus gazed out marvelling at the ships and harbors, public squares, and ramparts towering up with pointed palisades along the top.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Last March, Historic St. Mary’s City announced that the outlines of the palisaded fort, erected by White settlers in 1634, had finally been discovered.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 23, 2022

Leaving Luke in the boat, I scrambled up the bank, which sloped steeply, and was palisaded at top to the height of six feet.

From The MS. in a Red Box by John Arthur Hamilton

She was the first to set foot upon the narrow strip surrounding the moat and beyond which rose the palisaded entrenchment.

From The Executioner's Knife Or Joan of Arc by Eug?ne Sue

On a bright spring morning, May 17th, Joliet and Marquette, with five other men, left behind them the palisaded post and chapel of St. Ignace.

From Explorers and Travellers by Adolphus W. Greely

In this pleasant land the Iroquois dwelt in palisaded villages upon the fertile banks of the lakes and streams which watered their country.

From The Niagara River by Archer Butler Hulbert

"I see you are admiring that semicircle of splendid heads that crown the palisading of the Sheldonian," said Bingham, as they came up close to the historic building.

From The New Warden by Mrs. David G. Ritchie

Another minute, and four shadowy shapes stole noiselessly across the compound, to vanish almost instantly in the deeper shadows of the palisading.

From The Log of the Flying Fish A Story of Aerial and Submarine Peril and Adventure by Gordon Browne

When I knew the place intimately, on the very highest part of the Park was a large enclosure of the wild forest, railed in with high wooden palisading.

From Spanish Life in Town and Country by William Harbutt Dawson

They were located in temporary huts surrounded by a palisading, and warders were raised from amongst the best behaved to be responsible for their work and general supervision.

From Prisoners Their Own Warders A Record of the Convict Prison at Singapore in the Straits Settlements Established 1825 by John Frederick Adolphus McNair

The palisading could be completed during the year, and in 1668 the village could be said to have changed.

From The Life and Times of Kateri Tekakwitha The Lily of the Mohawks by Ellen H. Walworth