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Environ

//ɪnˈvaɪɹən// adv, noun, verb

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In the neighbourhood; around. not-comparable, obsolete

    "Thaboũdant grace of the power deuyne / whiche doth illumyne yͤ world inuyron / Preſerue this audyẽce and cauſe them to inclyne / To charyte this is my petycyon"

  2. 2
    Almost, nearly. not-comparable, obsolete
Noun
  1. 1
    A surrounding area or place (especially of an urban settlement); an environment. also, figuratively, formal, obsolete, transitive

    "Naples and its environs"

Verb
  1. 1
    To encircle or surround (someone or something). obsolete, transitive

    "For now I ſtand as one vpon a rocke, / Inuirond with a wildernes of ſea, / VVho markes the vvaxing tide, grovv vvaue by vvaue, / Expecting euer vvhen ſome enuious ſurge, / VVill in his briniſh bovvels ſvvallow him."

  2. 2
    extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle wordnet
  3. 3
    To encircle or surround (someone or something).; To encircle or surround (someone or something) so as to attack from all sides; to beset. obsolete, often, transitive

    "The Erle in good haſte departed thence to Penbroke, whome incontinent Morgan Thomas, by king Edwards commaundement ſo ſtrongly beſieged, and ſo enuironed his Caſtell with a ditche and a trench, that he could not lightly flie or eſcape thence, […]"

  4. 4
    To encircle or surround (someone or something).; To encircle or surround (a heraldic element such as a charge or escutcheon (shield)). obsolete, transitive

    "Az[ure], an annulet environing a barrulet, betw[een] two bars and in chief a cross patty fitchy or."

  5. 5
    To cover, enclose, or envelop (someone or something). obsolete, transitive

    "Farre off a hill and mountaine high they ſpide, / VVhoſe top the cloudes enuiron, cloath and hide; […]"

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    Followed by from: to hide or shield (someone or something). obsolete, transitive

    "Lonely her fate was, / Environed from sight / In the house where the gate was / Past finding at night."

  2. 7
    Of a person: to be positioned or stationed around (someone or something) to attend to or protect them. obsolete, transitive

    "[A]ll of them, upon an aſſociation made in the night, agreed to ſide vvith him, vvith aſſurance of ſafe conduct being gladly admitted unto them, environed he vvas vvith a multitude thronged together of vendible or ſale ſouldiors, […]"

  3. 8
    Of a situation or state of affairs, especially danger or trouble: to happen to and affect (someone or something). figuratively, obsolete, transitive

    "Ay me! what perils do environ / The Man that meddles with cold Iron!"

  4. 9
    To amount to or encompass (a space). obsolete, transitive

    "Tendaia (vvhich firſt obtained the Philippine title) enuironeth a hundred and ſixtie leagues, from tvvelue to fifteene degrees of latitude: the people Idolatrous, abounding vvith Pepper, Ginger, Gold, and Mynes."

  5. 10
    To travel completely around (a place or thing); to circumnavigate. obsolete, transitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

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)

Etymology 2

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)

Etymology 3

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.

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