enclose

Definitions of enclose in various dictionaries:

verb - enclose or enfold completely with or as if with a covering

verb - close in

verb - surround completely

verb - introduce

To surround on all sides; close in.

To fence in so as to prevent common use: enclosed the pasture.

To contain, especially so as to envelop or shelter: “Every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret” (Charles Dickens).

The central meaning shared by these verb s is “to surround and confine within a limited area”: cattle enclosed in feedlots; was caged in the office all afternoon; was cooped up in a studio apartment; a garden fenced in by shrubbery; a battalion hemmed in by enemy troops; ships penned up in the harbor during a blockade; prisoners who were walled in.

verb - to close in on all sides

ENCLOSE - Enclosure was the legal process in England of enclosing a number of small landholdings to create one larger farm. Enclosure or enclosed may also refe...