FORT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fort mean? 

• FORT (noun)
  The noun FORT has 2 senses:

1. a fortified military post where troops are stationed

2. a fortified defensive structure

  Familiarity information: FORT used as a noun is rare.

• FORT (verb)
  The verb FORT has 3 senses:

1. gather in, or as if in, a fort, as for protection or defense

2. enclose by or as if by a fortification

3. station (troops) in a fort

  Familiarity information: FORT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fortified military post where troops are stationed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fort; garrison

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fortified defensive structure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

fort; fortress

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)

• FORT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

fort; fort up

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)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Enclose by or as if by a fortification

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

fort; fortify

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:

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)

 Context examples 

After the beating, White Fang was dragged back to the fort.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I have had to engage his forts, to take my men ashore, and to destroy his guns and his signal stations.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With my own eyes I saw, at Nulato, before the gates of the great fort, and but few days gone.

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

“I have thought of that,” said I, for I made sure he was thinking of a bombardment of the fort.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

One huge gingko tree, topping all the others, shot its great limbs and maidenhair foliage over the fort which we had constructed.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Each pigeon-hole had its label, and his eyes as he glanced along them read a long series of such titles as Fords, Harbour-defences, Aeroplanes, Ireland, Egypt, Portsmouth forts, The Channel, Rosythe, and a score of others.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This will be a regularly merry Christmas to me, with presents in the morning, you and letters in the afternoon, and a party at night, said Amy, as they alighted among the ruins of the old fort, and a flock of splendid peacocks came trooping about them, tamely waiting to be fed.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

White Fang looked up at the fort, at the same time bristling and growling.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Then I went back to Nulato, and, behold, there was no Nulato—only ashes where the great fort had stood, and the bodies of many men.

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