Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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adv
In the neighbourhood; around.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: round, round about
Antonyms: none provided
adv
Almost, nearly.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A surrounding area or place (especially of an urban settlement); an environment.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: also, figuratively, formal, obsolete, transitive
Qualifier: archaic except in the plural
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To encircle or surround (someone or something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: belay
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To encircle or surround (someone or something).
To encircle or surround (someone or something) so as to attack from all sides; to beset.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, often, transitive
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: belay, beleaguer, besiege
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To encircle or surround (someone or something).
To encircle or surround (a heraldic element such as a charge or escutcheon (shield)).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
Qualifier: chiefly passive voice
Topics: government, heraldry, hobbies, lifestyle, monarchy, nobility, politics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: belay, envelop, entwist, enwrap
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To cover, enclose, or envelop (someone or something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: belay
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Followed by from: to hide or shield (someone or something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Of a person: to be positioned or stationed around (someone or something) to attend to or protect them.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
Qualifier: chiefly passive voice
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Of a situation or state of affairs, especially danger or trouble: to happen to and affect (someone or something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively, obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To amount to or encompass (a space).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To travel completely around (a place or thing); to circumnavigate.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: surround, ring, skirt, border
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: touch, adjoin, meet, contact
Narrower terms: fringe, girdle, gird, cloister, enclose, close in, inclose, shut in, hem in
History
From Middle English enviroun (“round about in a circle or ring; all around”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman enviroun, environ [and other forms], and Middle French enviroun, environ [and other forms], from Old French environ (“around, surrounding; about, approximately, roughly”) (modern French environ), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in; into’) + viron (“circuit; circumference, compass; country round about”) (though first attested later) (from virer (“to bear, turn, veer”) (either from Latin gȳrō (“to turn in a circle, rotate; to circle, revolve around”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend, curve; an arch, vault”)), or from Latin vibrō (“to hurl, launch; shake; to tremble, vibrate”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyb-, *weyp- (“to shake; to tremble; to sway, swing; to rotate, turn, wind, wrap (around)”))) + -on (augmentative suffix)). Cognates * Catalan enviró, environ (both obsolete) * Occitan environ * Spanish environ (obsolete)
From Late Middle English invyroun, Middle English enuyroun, enuyrown, from Anglo-Norman enviroun, environ, envirun, and Middle French environ (“circumference; surroundings; (in the plural) boundaries, frontiers”) (chiefly in the plural) (modern French environ), a noun use of Old French environ (adverb): see etymology 1.
From Middle English envirounen, enviroun (“to surround in a circle or ring, or on the perimeter; to beset, besiege; to cover, enclose, envelop; to provide a setting or surrounding to; to move in a circle; to move around the perimeter; to go, move, or wander about (a place); to fill or pervade (a place); to run all the way through”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman envirouner [and other forms], Middle French environner, and Old French environner (“to arrange in a circle; to circumnavigate, travel around; to traverse, wander around; to encircle, encompass, surround”) [and other forms] (modern French environner), from environ (adverb) (see etymology 1) + -er (suffix forming verbs). Cognates * Catalan environar (obsolete) * Old French avironer, avironner (Middle French avironer, avironner, Anglo-Norman avironer, aviruner) * Spanish environar (obsolete)
Across languages
20 source translations are retained for this English entry.
