palisade

Meanings

Noun

• A long, strong stake, one end of which is set firmly in the ground, and the other sharpened.
• A wall of wooden stakes, used as a defensive barrier.
• A line of cliffs, especially one showing basaltic columns.
• An even row of cells. e.g.: palisade mesophyll cells.

Verb

• To equip with a palisade.

Origin

• Borrowed from Middle French palissade, from Old French, from Old Occitan palissada, from palissa, probably from pal, or possibly from Gallo-Romance *pālīcea, from Latin pālus ("stake") -ade.