stockade

1 of 2

noun

stock·​ade stä-ˈkād How to pronounce stockade (audio)
1
: a line of stout posts set firmly to form a defense
2
a
: an enclosure or pen made with posts and stakes
b
: an enclosure in which prisoners are kept

stockade

2 of 2

verb

stockaded; stockading

transitive verb

: to fortify or surround with a stockade

Examples of stockade in a Sentence

Noun prisoners of war confined in a stockade
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Those posts formed the outline of the stockade that, at one time, may have housed some 1,200 British prisoners of war. The Arizona Republic, 23 Feb. 2024 Fines date back to the Middle Ages, when feudal lords would let people pay to get out of their stockades – an alternative to being in custody. Courtney E. Martin, The Christian Science Monitor, 12 Feb. 2024 The illustration’s design features three concentric circles: The defensive stockade of the Pequot village is surrounded by two rings of tiny figures, the inner composed of colonists armed with smoking muskets, the outer of Native American warriors wielding bows and arrows. Stephen Brumwell, WSJ, 4 Oct. 2023 Reese, now 75, returned to the stockade with CNN’s Randi Kaye to mark the 60th anniversary of the girls’ arrest. Randi Kaye, CNN, 17 Sep. 2023 Past this stockade of behavior, little of an inner life can get out. Jesse Green, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2023 Crawmer said there is evidence the vertical posts that formed the security stockade weren't in the ground for very long and that they may have been dug up and reused after the camp was closed in 1783. CBS News, 28 Oct. 2022 During World War II, the Army’s 10th Mountain Division trained for mountain warfare at Camp Hale, a sprawling base with 245 barracks, parade grounds, a combat range, ski hills, a stockade, and more. Andrea Sachs, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Apr. 2023 Martin Callinan’s great-great-great-grandfather was an Irish miner who fought at the stockade. Damien Cave, New York Times, 5 Apr. 2023
Verb
Epstein spent 13 months in the Palm Beach County stockade during 2008-09 as part of a plea deal widely criticized as being too lenient. Skyler Swisher, sun-sentinel.com, 10 May 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stockade.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Spanish estacada, from estaca stake, pale, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English staca stake

First Known Use

Noun

1614, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1677, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of stockade was in 1614

Dictionary Entries Near stockade

Cite this Entry

“Stockade.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stockade. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

stockade

1 of 2 noun
stock·​ade stä-ˈkād How to pronounce stockade (audio)
1
: a line of stout posts set firmly to form a defense
2
a
: an enclosure or pen made with posts and stakes
b
: an enclosure in which prisoners are kept

stockade

2 of 2 verb
stockaded; stockading
: to protect or surround with a stockade

More from Merriam-Webster on stockade

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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