environ

adv

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

   “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”

   “Lord Godfreyes eie three times enuiron goes, / To vievv vvhat count'nance euerie vvarriour beares, […]”

2. (not-comparable, obsolete)Almost, nearly.

verb

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

   “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.”

   “Into that foreſt farre they thence him led, / VVhere vvas their dvvelling, in a pleaſant glade, / VVith mountaines rovvnd about enuironed, / And mightie vvoodes, vvhich did the valley ſhade, […]”

   “There is another village called Finland, Fingland and Fennland, which is almost environned with a moss and fenny ground.”

   “I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs / By the knovvn rules of antient libertie, / When ſtrait a barbarous noiſe environs me / Of Ovvles and Cuckoes, Aſſes, Apes and Doggs.”

   “[W]ent I forth, and found, till then unknovvn, / A cottage, vvhither oft vve ſince repair: / 'Tis perch'd upon the green-hill top, but cloſe / Inviron'd vvith a ring of branching elms / That overhang the thatch, itſelf unſeen, / Peeps at the vale belovv; […]”

2. (obsolete, often, transitive)To encircle or surround (someone or something).

   “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, […]”

   “Philopœmen fearinge to be enuironned, and being deſirous to bring his men ſafe home againe, vvho moſt of loue had follovved him: beganne to marche avvay through narrovv buſhy places, him ſelfe being in the rerevvard, and turned oftentimes vpon his enemies, […]”

   “Enuironed he vvas vvith many foes, / And ſtood againſt them, as the hope of Troy / Againſt the Greekes, that vvould haue entred Troy.”

   “The King [Cynewulf of Wessex] had an intrigue vvith a young vvoman, vvho lived at Merton in Surrey; vvhither having ſecretly retired, he vvas on a ſudden environed, in the night-time, by Kynehard and his follovvers, and after making a vigorous reſiſtance, vvas murdered, vvith all his attendants.”

   “Where slavery wields her scourge of iron, / Red with mankind's unheeded gore, / And war's mad fiends environ, / Mingling with shrieks a drunken roar, […]”

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

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

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

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

   “Thus like a Nun, not like a Princeſſe borne, / Deſcended from the Royall Henries loynes: / Liue I inuironed in a houſe of ſtone, […]”

   “Since ſhe muſt goe, and I muſt mourne, come night / Environ me vvith darkneſſe, vvhilſt I vvrite: / Shadovv that hell unto me, vvhich alone / I am to ſuffer vvhen my ſoule is gone.”

   “In vain I ſtretch theſe eyes, environed vvith darkneſs undiſtinguiſhing and void: no object meets my view; no ſound ſalutes mine ear, except the noiſy vvind that vvhiſtles through theſe vaulted caves of death.”

   “Gravely-gladsome light / Environed them with its eternal green: […]”

5. (obsolete, transitive)Followed by from: to hide or shield (someone or something).

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

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

   “[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, […]”

   “O moſt high God, who keepeſt all things whether high or low, and environeſt every creature; ſancti†fie and bleſs† theſe Creatures of lime and ſand; Through Chriſt our Lord, Amen.”

   “[T]he admiral in particular, being dangerouſly vvounded, and environed by the guards of the King, on vvhose protection he ſeemed entirely to rely, had no means of eſcape, and might ſurely, before his death, have been convicted of the crimes imputed to him: […]”

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

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

   “[S]he knew not one person to whose protection she could have recourse, from the inexpressible woes that environed her: […]”

   “Thus the party continued to converſe, and, as far as civility vvould permit, to torture each other by mutual boaſts, vvhile they reclined on ſofas in the portico, and vvere environed vvith delights both from nature and art, by vvhich any honeſt minds vvould have been tempered to benevolence, and happy imaginations vvould have been ſoothed into enchantment.”

   “[H]e never ceaſed to experience the fondeſt intereſt in her happineſs, nor the moſt tender compaſſion for the dangers vvith vvhich he ſavv her environed.”

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

   “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.”

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

noun

1. (also, figuratively, formal, obsolete, transitive)A surrounding area or place (especially of an urban settlement); an environment.

   “Naples and its environs”

   “I got up to yᵉ Towre, whence we had a prospect towards Duresme, and could see Rippon, part of Lancashire, the famous and fatal Marston Moore, yᵉ Spaws of Knaresborough, and all the environs of that admirable country.”

   “[N]ovv, if a hamlet containing thirty houſes, vvith perhaps an environ of an equal number, vvhere labour and the fruits of the earth are the only ſources of vvealth, can ſupport one attorney in this rural magnificence; vvhat an infinite number of lavvyers can a commercial capital ſuſtain?”

   “His spirits, during the last two or three days, though still very unequal, were greatly improved—he grew more and more partial to the house and environs—never spoke of going away without a sigh— […]”

   “I am truly sorry that I cannot accompany you in your ride this morning, owing to a violent pain in my face, arising from a wart to which I by medical advice applied a caustic. Whether I put too much, I do not know, but the consequence is, that not only I have been put to some pain, but the peccant part and its immediate environ are as black as if the printer's devil had marked me for an author.”