sunk fence

American  

noun

1. a wall or other barrier set in a ditch to divide lands without marring the landscape.

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sunk fence British  

noun

1. Also called: ha-ha.  a ditch, one side of which is made into a retaining wall so as to enclose an area of land while remaining hidden in the total landscape

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Etymology

Origin of sunk fence

First recorded in 1755–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sunk fence

The wall is often concealed in a sunk fence, in order to give an idea of greater extent.

From Travels in China, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons, Made and Collected in the Course of a Short Residence at the Imperial Palace of Yuen-Min-Yuen, and on a Subsequent Journey through the Country from Pekin to Canton by Sir John Barrow

Across the garden-beds; through Jacob's best potatoes; over the sunk fence into the open park, helter-skelter they go—John leading, closely followed by Freddy and Mr. Harborough, while the three women tear madly behind.

From Doctor Cupid by Rhoda Broughton

Within we made the circuit of a neglected lawn, divided from a park by a sunk fence, across which some cattle stared at us in a lazy manner as we drove past them.

From Milly Darrell and Other Tales by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon

Ha-ha, Hawhaw, haw-haw′, n. a sunk fence, or a ditch not seen till close upon it.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

She learns to look at everything in life as she does at six feet of timber or a sunk fence; she goes through the world as she goes across country—straight ahead, and over everything.

From Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. (Mary Elizabeth) Braddon