Virginia fence

American  

noun

1. snake fence.

---

Etymology

Origin of Virginia fence

An Americanism dating back to 1665–75

Example Sentences

I would go rods out of my way to get around a great bowlder, and come upon a conglomeration of big trees which had tumbled about till they made a Virginia fence fifteen feet high.

From A Pessimist In Theory and Practice by Bird, Frederic Mayer

I do not suppose he liked a Virginia fence better than Cobbett did.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 89, March, 1865 by Various

The logs were laid one above another, to the height of four feet, intersecting at the corners of the houses like the rails of a Virginia fence.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 105, July 1866 by Various

In a large pen or 'corral' built of railroad-ties, in a manner partaking of a Virginia fence, a log-cabin, and a block fortress, were a cage of youthful bears and cages of other animals.

From Caricature and Other Comic Art in all Times and many Lands. by Parton, James

Afterwards, the prevailing fences were log ones, with sometimes a Virginia fence, or else rails slanted over crossed stakes,—and these zigzagged or played leap-frog all the way to the lake, keeping just ahead of us.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 02, No. 08, June 1858 by Various