worm fence
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of worm fence
An Americanism dating back to 1645–55
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.
He was the strongest man I ever knew, and has been known to lift a man of his own weight and throw him over a worm fence.
From The Every-day Life of Abraham Lincoln A Narrative And Descriptive Biography With Pen-Pictures And Personal Recollections By Those Who Knew Him by Browne, Francis F. (Francis Fisher)
As they drove along the hot road they saw a boy sitting on the top rail of an old-fashioned stake-and-rider worm fence.
From McClure's Magazine December, 1895 by Tarbell, Ida M.
He makes a dash at the ink-bottle every twenty seconds, places the third finger and thumb of his left hand on his paper, and scratches away at his worm fence like one possessed.
From Lights and Shadows of New York Life or, the Sights and Sensations of the Great City by McCabe, James Dabney
The worm fence disappeared and neat white lines flashed divisions of pastures, it seemed, for miles.
From The Heart of the Hills by Fox, John
When used in this way the lines of fence may be 300 to 600 yds. long, in plan like a worm fence, with the blockhouse at the reëntrant angles.
From Manual of Military Training Second, Revised Edition by Moss, James A. (James Alfred)
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.
