Also 7–9 foss. [a. F. fosse, ad. L. fossa (see FOSSA).]
1. An excavation narrow in proportion to its length; a canal, ditch, or trench; † a cart-rut.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 1639.
| The stede stert over a fosse, | |
| And strykys a-stray. |
1477. Norton, Ord. Alch., i. in Ashm. (1652), 19.
| As water in fosses of the Carte-wheele, | |
| Were veynes smale whan they began to keele. |
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 176. In al these regyons are fosses or trenches made of oulde tyme, wherby they conueye the waters in order to water their fyeldes.
1606. Holland, Sueton., 185. Hee had an intention once to set out and enlarge the walls of Rome, even as farre as to Ostia; and from thence by a Fosse to let the Sea into old Rome.
1664. Evelyn, Sylva (1776), 44. You may plant them in double fosses, where they may abide for good and all, and to remain till they are of a competent stature to be transplanted.
1806. T. S. Surr, Winter in Lond. (ed. 3), III. 41. I stripped off several of his garments, which I threw into a fosse.
1853. G. Johnston, Nat. Hist. E. Bord., I. 254. The sides of the burn heave on each side with mounds and parallel fosses that have evidently an artificial origin, and that in a far-away time.
fig. 1549. Compl. Scot., i. 19. The diuyne sapiens … garris them fal in the depe fosse of seruitude.
2. esp. in Fortif. and Archæol. A ditch or dike formed to serve as a barrier against an advancing foe, a moat surrounding a fortified place.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), iv. 32. There nyghe is the Fosse of Mennon, that is alle round.
1549. Compl. Scot., xiv. 113. Be grit industre thai maid tua lang depe fosses about al the toune.
1678. trans. Gaya’s Art of War, II. 113. A Trench, a casting up of Earth by way of Parapet, with a Ditch or Foss on the side of the Enemy.
1774. Pennant, Tour Scotl. in 1772, 95. A small hill with a round British camp surrounded with two fosses on the top.
1807. G. Chalmers, Caledonia, I. 1. iv. 157. It is of an oblong form, and was defended by three strong ramparts, and two large fosses, having a regular entrance on each of its sides.
1872. Baker, Nile Tribut., iv. 51. The walls are of solid mud and sun-baked bricks, carefully loopholed for musketry, while a deep fosse, by which it is surrounded, is a safeguard against a sudden surprise.
1882. Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse, 122.
| Thou art girt about with goodly guards and great: | |
| What fosse may fence thee round as deep as hate? |
transf. 1860. Motley, Netherl., II. ix. 22. That river [the Meuse] was now in the power of the Spaniards. The Province of Brabant became thoroughly guarded again by its foss.
† 3. A deep hole dug in the ground; a pit. Also, a burying-ground, grave. Obs.
1474. Caxton, Chesse, IV. vii. Than he herde a voyce that yssued out of the fosse or pitte of the sacrefises.
1669. J. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 137. In Planting of Trees, its usual to apply good Mould, or other additional Soyl, to fill up the Foss after the placing the Tree.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v., The Foss or Pit for the Bait should be under it as at A. B. C. D.
a. 1777. Fawkes, Apollonius Rhodius, III. 1277.
| A deep round foss he made, | |
| And on the kindling wood the victim laid. |
1855. Smedley, Occult Sciences, 129. Most of the spirits plainly rise from beneath, and hover over the foss and its bloody libation.
b. Hist. A pit [= med. Lat. fossa] in which women condemned for felony were drowned.
1825–80. Jamieson, s.v. Pit & Gallows, In some old deeds … these terms [furca et fossa] are rendered furc and fos.
† 4. A waterway or navigable channel. Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 117. In the fosse and mouth of this riuer Phasis, where hee is discharged into the sea, there be some little Islands of no reckoning.
5. An abyss, chasm, or gulf, [transl. It. bolgia.]
1814. Cary, Dante, Inf., VIII. 74.
| We came within the fosses deep, that moat | |
| This region comfortless. |
6. Anat. = FOSSA.
1730–36. Bailey (folio), Foss [with Anatomists] a kind of cavity in a bone, with a large aperture, but no exit or perforation.
1847. Johnston in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, II. No. 5. 215. Its [the tail’s] origin was marked by a deep incissure or fosse in the back, and from this it tapered gradually to the tip, where it is obtusely pointed.
1883. Knowledge, 13 July, 22/2. Between the margin and the feelers or tentacles (tentacula) there may be a groove or foss (fossa).
7. attrib. and Comb., as foss-ditch; foss-work, Hist. (Feudal), work done on the town foss.
1772. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 402. The nature of the Turkish frontier provinces, an immense foss-ditch (if I may so call it) of desert, is a defence made indeed, in a great measure, at the expense of mankind, but still it is a great defence.
1775. Ash, Foss-work.
