Definition of "paling" [pal•ing]

• One of a row of upright pointed sticks forming a fence; a pale. (noun)
• Pointed sticks used in making fences; pales. (noun)
• A fence made of pales or pickets. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "I sometimes, indeed, receive a male visitor, at the other side of the paling, which is my grille; but to change my way of life is a dream that does not trouble me."
• "It was surrounded on three sides by a dyke of stones and sod, topped by a gray and uncertain paling."
• "Next to your lordly wall, in dignity of enclosure, comes your close-set wooden paling, which is more objectionable, because it commonly means enclosure on a larger scale than people want."