unfenced

English

Etymology

un- +‎ fenced

Adjective

unfenced (not comparable)

1. Not enclosed by a fence or other boundary; free to roam over a wider area.
   • 1858, The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-east of Ireland Archaeological Society:

     Ireland must have remained utterly unfenced and, therefore, uncultivated, for many a century; and the sparse tribes that inhabited the country must have principally subsisted venatically.

   • 1941 May, W. Dendy, “The Cyprus Government Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 201:

     The line is unfenced, except in the vicinity of stations, and runs across the treeless Mesaorian plain for the whole distance between Famagusta and Nicosia.

   • 2023 January 11, Richard Foster, “British Rail's weirdest railways...: Wisbech & Upwell Tramway”, in RAIL, number 974, page 46:

     It was a rural railway that served the fertile Fens of Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. But because it flanked public roads and was unfenced (to save costs), it was deemed a tramway and its locomotives had to be fitted with a cowcatcher.

2. (figuratively) Without protection; defenseless.
   • 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 81:

     She [Nature] has made the hinder part of the Head, more strong, as being otherwise unfenced against falls and other casualties.

Verb

unfenced

1. simple past and past participle of unfence

Translations

not enclosed by a fence

• Finnish: aitaamaton
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄφρακτος (áphraktos)

without protection

• Finnish: suojaton (fi)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἄφρακτος (áphraktos)