pinfold
noun, verb
Forms pinfolds pinfolding pinfolded penfold
- noun An open enclosure for animals, especially an area where stray animals were rounded up if their owners failed to properly supervise their use of common grazing land.
- verb (transitive) To confine (animals) in a pinfold.
Etymology
From Middle English pinfold, punfold, punfald, variants of Middle English pundfold, pundfald, from Old English pundfald (“pinfold”), equivalent to pound (“pen, enclosure”) + fold.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [For pindfold. See Pinder, Pound an inclosure, and Fold an inclosure.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pinfold”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details