Meanings
plural snake fences
- CanadaUSA zigzag fence built from interlocking split logs or young trees, not secured with nails.
Snake fences were extravagant in land and in wood, but wood and land were cheaper in Canada in early days than were nails and hinges.
1942, Emily Carr, “Beginnings”, in The Book of Small, Toronto, Ont.: Oxford University Press, →OCLC1 more example
A breaker of green uniforms plunges down the slope of Lime Ridge, curls around sugar bushes and thickets, cascades over stone walls and snake fences, as the Fenians come howling down on them, rifles snapping.
2011, Guy Vanderhaeghe, chapter 22, in A Good Man, McClelland & StewartSynonyms: split rail fence, Virginia fence, Virginia rail fence, worm fence
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA zigzag fence built from interlocking split logs or young trees, not secured with nails.
More synonyms by meaning
nounrail fence consisting of a zigzag of interlocking rails
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
snake fence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snake%20fence
“snake fence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snake%20fence. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snake fence,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snake%20fence.
Source: snake fence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.