palisade

American  

[pal-uh-seyd] / 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

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

The numerous small bumps in the palisade parenchyma cells are chloroplasts.

From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022

Eight stories tall, Solaris features a sleek palisade of broad teak-covered decks suitable for hosting a horde of well-heeled partygoers.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2022

Leaving the small white airport, we passed a palisade of organ pipe cactuses.

From New York Times ● Nov. 11, 2021

I explain to Richard that we are about to race to the palisade wall.

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

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

On the palisades in front of the church hang red banners proclaiming the fifth commandment of the Catholic catechism: Huwag kang papatay, it reads.

From Time ● Jan. 16, 2017

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

Then the Iroquois made them their hunting-ground; and beyond, in the valleys of the Mohawk, the Onondaga, and the Genesee, stretched the long line of their five cantons and palisaded towns.

From Historic Handbook of the Northern Tour by Parkman, Francis

To lessen the labour, he took the embankment as one wall, and palisaded the top for about a hundred yards.

From Swift and Sure by Strang, Herbert

Their posts were only six in all, and were mainly fortified with palisaded enclosures, with howitzers and swivels, and with men trained to the use of guns.

From On Canada's Frontier Sketches of History, Sport, and Adventure and of the Indians, Missionaries, Fur-traders, and Newer Settlers of Western Canada by Ralph, Julian

Ojeda collected a few of his followers, and made a desperate resistance from the interior of a palisaded enclosure.

From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 3 by Whymper, Frederick

As silence—an ominous silence full of danger and portent—fell upon us again here, we could tell that quite as desperate a struggle was going on at other points of the palisading.

From Mass' George A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah by Smith, W.T.

Traversing the path with rapid footsteps we soon reached the palisading which inclosed the garden, passed through the gate, and found ourselves in sight of the house.

From The Congo Rovers A Story of the Slave Squadron by Schonberg, J.

Without a word Sir Reginald complied, clambering first upon his companion’s back and thence noiselessly to the top of the palisading.

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

They are connected with the palisading by rose, shamrock and thistle.

From The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 28, April 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Newnes, George

In fortification, a space running along the outside of the ditch for the convenient passage of troops and guns, covered from the country by a palisading and the parapet of the glacis.

From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Belcher, Edward, Sir