pinfold

P3I1N1F4O1L1D2

noun

An open enclosure for animals, especially an area where stray animals were rounded up if their owners failed to properly supervise their use of common grazing land.

OriginMiddle English pinfold ← Old English pundfald →
RareScrabble 13
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Meanings

nounpinfold (plural pinfolds)

plural pinfolds · alternative penfold

  1. An open enclosure for animals, especially an area where stray animals were rounded up if their owners failed to properly supervise their use of common grazing land.

    These drawing near the wood, where close ypent / The wicked sprites in sylvan pinfolds were […]

    1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, XIII, xx
    1 more example

    A little further along the road is the pinfold where stray animals were penned until claimed by their owners.

    1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 331, about Redmire
verbpinfold (third-person singular simple present pinfolds, present participle pinfolding, simple past and past participle pinfolded)

present singular third person pinfolds · participle present pinfolding · participle past pinfolded · past pinfolded · alternative penfold

  1. transitiveTo confine (animals) in a pinfold.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
fold

Origin

  1. Old Englishpundfald“pinfold”
  2. Middle Englishpundfold
  3. Middle Englishpinfold
  4. Englishpinfold

From Middle English pinfold, punfold, punfald, variants of Middle English pundfold, pundfald, from Old English pundfald (“pinfold”), equivalent to pound (“pen, enclosure”) + fold.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

pinfold. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pinfold

MLA

“pinfold.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pinfold. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pinfold,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pinfold.

Source: pinfold on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.