fosse

See also: Fosse, fossé, fòsse, and fôsse

English

Alternative forms

• foss

Etymology

From Middle English fosse, from Old French fosse, from Latin fossa (“ditch, trench”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɒs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔs/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /fɑs/
• Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Noun

fosse (plural fosses)

1. A ditch or moat.
   • 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview 2004, p. 486:

     [T]he ground was […] scattered with the masses of ruined buildings, that had formerly been part of the outward fortifications, but of which some were fallen into the fosse, and others overgrown with alder, ash, and arbeal.

2. (anatomy) Alternative form of fossa

Derived terms

• fosse road
• fosseway

Translations

a ditch or moat

• Arabic: خَنْدَق‎ m (ḵandaq)
• Bulgarian: окоп (bg) m (okop), ров (bg) m (rov)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: co (ku) m

• Maori: awamate
• Persian: خندق‎ (fa) (xandaq)

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French

Etymology

From Middle French fosse, from Old French fosse, from Latin fossa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fos/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: fausse, fausses, fosses

Noun

fosse f (plural fosses)

1. pit (hole in the ground)

Derived terms

• fosse commune
• fosse septique
• fossette

Further reading

• “fosse” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Etymology 1

From earlier fusse, from Latin fuisset, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰuH- (“to become, be”).

Alternative forms

• fusse (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfos.se/
• Hyphenation: fós‧se

Verb

fosse

1. third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of essere

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔs.se/
• Hyphenation: fòs‧se

Noun

fosse f

1. plural of fossa

Anagrams

• fesso

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Ladin

Verb

fosse

1. first-person singular imperfect subjunctive of ester

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Latin

Participle

fosse

1. vocative masculine singular of fossus

References

• fosse in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

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Middle French

Etymology

From Old French fosse, from Latin fossa.

Noun

fosse f (plural fosses)

1. fosse

Derived terms

• French: fosse

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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From the noun foss

Verb

fosse (imperative foss, present tense fosser, passive fosses, simple past and past participle fossa or fosset, present participle fossende)

1. to cascade, gush, pour, rush, foam

References

• “fosse” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “fosse” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From the noun foss

Verb

fosse (present tense fossar, past tense fossa, past participle fossa, passive infinitive fossast, present participle fossande, imperative foss)

1. to cascade, gush, pour, rush, foam

Alternative forms

• fossa

References

• “fosse” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin fossa.

Noun

fosse f (oblique plural fosses, nominative singular fosse, nominative plural fosses)

1. fosse
2. hole in the ground
3. a grave

Descendants

• Middle French: fosse
  • French: fosse

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (fosse, supplement)

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Portuguese

Pronunciation

Forms of ser and ir:

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈfo.si/, [ˈfo.si]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˈfo.sɨ/, [ˈfo.sɨ]

Forms of fossar:

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈfɔ.si/, [ˈfɔ.si]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˈfɔ.sɨ/, [ˈfɔ.sɨ]

Verb

fosse

1. first-person singular (eu) imperfect subjunctive of ser
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) imperfect subjunctive of ser
3. first-person singular (eu) imperfect subjunctive of ir
4. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) imperfect subjunctive of ir
5. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of fossar
6. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of fossar
7. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of fossar
8. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of fossar