fence with

fence with (someone)

In a conversation, to evade or avoid directly answering someone or something. Ever the sly spin doctor, the candidate was able to deftly fence with the journalist around questions of his dubious background.

fence with

Avoid answering directly, try to evade, as in The mayor was very clever at fencing with the press about his future plans. This expression transfers the parry and thrust of fencing to a verbal exchange. [Second half of 1600s]

See also: fence

References in classic literature ?

Josie walked the Barry fence with an airy unconcern which seemed to imply that a little thing like that wasn't worth a "dare.

View in context

But when more intensive control is required, reinforcing the fence with a second, finer-spaced roll on the other side of the posts might be easier and more efficient than tearing out the old fence entirely.

Fencing for creatures great and small

Confirming her earlier observations with small models, Erica found that a fence with thicker boards slowed the wind and trapped more snow than a fence made with thinner boards did.

So, this year, Erica compared her original thick-board fence with some alternative designs.

Snow traps

And how they answer her will be their own damn business because today I am a fence with no gate.

The fence

While fences are a vital component of most physical protection systems, the combination of an appropriate fence with one or more carefully selected intrusion detection sensors forms a formidable combination of barrier and detection capability.