Middle English from Old French from Latin fossafossa1
From
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Via Old French, from Latinfossa (“ditch, trench”).
From
Wiktionary
Fosse Sentence Examples
The fosse has been planted, and part of it used as an experimental garden.
Le Maistre (de Sacy), and after a month in the Bastille was exiled to his estate of Fosse.
Both the eastern and the western part of the city were formerly enclosed by brick walls, with large round towers at the principal angles and smaller towers intervening at shorter distances, the whole surrounded by a deep fosse.
The inner city, or Vienna proper, was formerly separated from the other districts by a circle of fortifications, consisting of a rampart, fosse and glacis.
Another series of works, consisting of a rampart and fosse, were constructed in 1704 to surround the whole city at that time, i.e.