What does quickset mean?
Quickset is chiefly a British noun for a specially designed fence post, usually one made of concrete and provided with a slot or hole for fence wire. Its purpose is practical: because the wire can be passed directly through or secured to the post, a fence can be erected with less work than would be required with an ordinary post. The plural is quicksets. Quickset can also be used attributively, especially in the established phrase quickset fence, to refer to a fence made from these posts or to the posts themselves. Although the word is relatively uncommon outside Britain and specialist fencing or agricultural contexts, it names a simple and ingenious piece of rural infrastructure. It should not be understood as a general word for anything that is set up quickly; its established meaning is closely tied to fence construction and posts designed to carry wire securely.
A fence post, usually made of concrete, with a slot or hole for attaching fence wire and designed for quick installation.
"The installer drove each quickset into the ground before stretching the wire between them."
A countable noun; the usual plural is quicksets.
Relating to a quickset fence, or denoting the type of fence post used to construct one.
"A quickset fence is especially useful for dividing a field or paddock."
Most often encountered in the phrase quickset fence.
The standard plural of the noun; several quicksets are placed along the line of a fence.
"The crew replaced the damaged quicksets and strung new wire between them."
A quickset's built-in wire slot saves the installer a separate fastening step, turning post placement and wire attachment into one quick operation.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does quickset come from?
Quickset is an English compound formed from quick and set. The sense develops from the idea of a fence post that can be placed and connected to wire quickly: set refers to placing or installing something. The related forms quick and quicken preserve the first element of the compound, while set and its derivatives belong to the second.
Related word forms
How quickset is actually used
The term is chiefly British and belongs mainly to agricultural, fencing, and construction vocabulary. In Britain, quickset commonly refers to a concrete fence post; elsewhere, especially in the United States, it may refer more generally to a fence-post design intended for rapid erection.