stockade
Americannoun
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Fortification. a defensive barrier consisting of strong posts or timbers fixed upright in the ground.
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an enclosure or pen made with posts and stakes.
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U.S. Military. a prison for military personnel.
verb (used with object)
noun
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an enclosure or barrier of stakes and timbers
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a military prison or detention area
verb
Etymology
Origin of stockade
1605–15; < Middle French estocade, variant of estacade < Spanish estacada. See stake 1, -ade 1
Explanation
A stockade is an enclosed pen used to herd cattle and other livestock. Stockades can also house people, in the sense of a penal camp. In both cases, the treatment tends to be on the rough side. Stockades are also built as a means of protection or defense. Fun fact: Did you know that one of the most famous stockades in America was the original Wall Street in New Amsterdam — that is, the protective wall of wooden stakes dug into the ground that separated the northernmost part of the Dutch settlement from Native American territory? Or at least it did until the Dutch, in need of firewood, chopped it down.
Vocabulary lists containing stockade
Beowulf
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Unit 1: Telling Details
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"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Melissa Johnson, a bartender at the Stockade who grew up in Crestline, said of her hometown: “It’s a special, quaint place. You’re up in the mountains, hidden away from the city.”
From New York Times • Mar. 10, 2023
Situated on the outskirts of Miami International Airport right next to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, the Stockade opened in 1953 and boasted the ability to sleep roughly 1,200 men.
From Washington Times • Feb. 12, 2022
Then one day while in the Presidio Stockade, quite out of the blue, a stranger came to see him.
From Salon • Jan. 30, 2020
Epstein was soon transferred to the lower-security Palm Beach County Stockade, records show.
From Washington Post • Jul. 19, 2019
The diggers had formed an entrenchment, called the Eureka Stockade, and had enclosed about an acre of ground with a high slab fence.
From History of Australia and New Zealand From 1606 to 1890 by Sutherland, Alexander
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.
