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

Behind this came a square piece of kitchen garden, divided from the fields by a sunk fence, with a little wooden foot-bridge across it.

From Thistle and Rose A Story for Girls by Barnes, Robert

And in Spring what a choir of nightingales sang in the gnarled whitethorn trees by the sunk fence, and in late summer what myriads of grasshoppers chirruped in the twilight.

From The Passionate Elopement by MacKenzie, Compton

She had made a circuit of the ornamental water, and was returning by the footpath near the sunk fence which separates the Gardens from the Park, when she recognized De Burgh coming toward her.

From A Crooked Path A Novel by Alexander, Mrs.

In the garden stood Rose, on the edge of the sunk fence dividing the Rectory domain from the cornfield.

From Robert Elsmere by Ward, Humphry, Mrs.

On, down the long cedar alley, the dew dripping from the branches as they closed behind them; over the sunk fence, and across the lower garden to the summer-house, Hugh's summer-house.

From Fernley House by Barry, Etheldred B. (Etheldred Breeze)