The Collaborative International Dictionary
Fencible \Fen"ci*ble\, a. Capable of being defended, or of making or affording defense.
No fort so fencible, nor walls so strong.
--Spenser.
Fencible \Fen"ci*ble\, n. (Mil.) A soldier enlisted for home service only; -- usually in the pl.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c., "capable of making a defense," short for defensible; also see fence (n.). As a noun, "soldier enlisted to defend against invasion and not liable to serve abroad" (1796).
Wiktionary
a. Capable of being defended n. 1 A militia unit raised for homeland defense. 2 A soldier in such a unit.
Usage examples of "fencible".
Our worthy acquaintance Mr Malachi Mulligan now appeared in the doorway as the students were finishing their apologue accompanied with a friend whom he had just rencountered, a young gentleman, his name Alec Bannon, who had late come to town, it being his intention to buy a colour or a cornetcy in the fencibles and list for the wars.
Martin Lennox had been a captain in the Glengarry Light Infantry Regiment of Fencibles at the time and received a grant of eight hundred acres.
The Ashbys had had the same bedrooms at the Chequers for the night of the Bures Show since the days of William Ashby the Seventh: he who had joined the Westover Fencibles to resist the expected invasion of Napoleon the First.
Our worthy acquaintance Mr Malachi Mulligan now appeared in the doorway as the students were finishing their apologue accompanied with a friend whom he had just rencountered, a young gentleman, his name Alec Bannon, who had late come to town, it being his intention to buy a colour or a cornetcy in the fencibles and list for the wars.
Once the officers of the Fencibles gave a grand ball at Kilwangan, to which, as a matter of course, all the ladies of Castle Brady (and a pretty ugly coachful they were) were invited.
Ryder would not have cared to transfer twenty-odd Sea Fencibles from a sinking turtleback with the waves sending green water over the cockpit forward.