Library / English Dictionary

FORT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fortified defensive structure

Synonyms:

fort; fortress

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fort" is a kind of...):

defence; defense; defensive structure (a structure used to defend against attack)

Meronyms (parts of "fort"):

battlement; crenelation; crenellation (a rampart built around the top of a castle with regular gaps for firing arrows or guns)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fort"):

alcazar (any of various Spanish fortresses or palaces built by the Moors)

martello tower (a circular masonry fort for coastal defence)

presidio (a fortress established in the southwestern United States by the Spanish in order to protect their missions and other holdings)

sconce (a small fort or earthwork defending a ford, pass, or castle gate)

Instance hyponyms:

Alhambra (a fortified Moorish palace built near Granada by Muslim kings in the Middle Ages)

Bastille (a fortress built in Paris in the 14th century and used as a prison in the 17th and 18th centuries; it was destroyed July 14, 1789 at the start of the French Revolution)

Tower of London (a fortress in London on the Thames; used as a palace and a state prison and now as a museum containing the crown jewels)

Machu Picchu (Inca fortress city in the Andes in Peru discovered in 1911; it may have been built in the 15th century)

Derivation:

fort (station (troops) in a fort)

fort (enclose by or as if by a fortification)

fort (gather in, or as if in, a fort, as for protection or defense)

fortify (enclose by or as if by a fortification)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fortified military post where troops are stationed

Synonyms:

fort; garrison

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fort" is a kind of...):

military post; post (military installation at which a body of troops is stationed)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Instance hyponyms:

Fort George G. Meade; Fort George Gordon Meade; Fort Meade (a United States Army base in Maryland; headquarters of the National Security Agency)

Derivation:

fort (station (troops) in a fort)

fort (gather in, or as if in, a fort, as for protection or defense)

fortify (prepare oneself for a military confrontation)

fortify (enclose by or as if by a fortification)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Station (troops) in a fort

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "fort" is one way to...):

place; post; send; station (assign to a station)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

fort (a fortified defensive structure)

fort (a fortified military post where troops are stationed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Enclose by or as if by a fortification

Synonyms:

fort; fortify

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "fort" is one way to...):

close in; enclose; inclose; shut in (surround completely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "fort"):

trench (fortify by surrounding with trenches)

embattle (fortify by furnishing with battlements for defense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fort (a fortified defensive structure)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Gather in, or as if in, a fort, as for protection or defense

Synonyms:

fort; fort up

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "fort" is one way to...):

assemble; foregather; forgather; gather; meet (collect in one place)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

fort (a fortified defensive structure)

fort (a fortified military post where troops are stationed)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Fort Challenger, we called it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At the fort Beauty Smith left him securely tied and went in to bed.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

And while he appeared very sick and looked about him with dull eyes, he noted the fighting strength of Ivan's men, and noted with satisfaction that Ivan did not recognize him as the man he had beaten before the gates of the fort.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

So, in the night, when the men in the fort were asleep, White Fang applied his teeth to the stick that held him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Only do I know what I know, and I know I saw thee lashed like a dog in the day; and in the night, when the great fort flamed red and the men killed and were killed, I saw thee not.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

But White Fang did it, trotting away from the fort in the early morning, with the end of the stick hanging to his neck.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Nor was I coward when I journeyed, a young man and alone, up the Yukon farther than man had ever been, so far that I came to another folk, with white faces, who live in a great fort and talk speech other than that the Russians talk.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

And then, blind and reeling, he followed at Beauty Smith's heels back to the fort.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

This man was called "Beauty" by the other men of the fort.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

And when Beauty Smith left him tied outside the fort, he knew that it was Beauty Smith's will that he should remain there.

(White Fang, by Jack London)