environ

English

Etymology

From Middle English [Term?], from Old French enviruner, environner (“to surround”), from environ (“around”), from en (“in”) + viron (“a turn”), from virer (“to turn, veer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈvaɪ.ɹən/, /ɛnˈvaɪ.ɹən/
• Rhymes: -aɪɹən

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

environ (plural environs)

1. (especially in plural) A surrounding area
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 19:

     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 [...]

Verb

environ (third-person singular simple present environs, present participle environing, simple past and past participle environed)

1. To encircle, to surround.
   • c. 1588–1593, [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, OCLC 222241046, [Act III, scene i]:

     For now I ſtand as one vpon a rocke, / Inuirond with a wildernes of ſea, / VVho markes the waxing tide, grow waue by waue, / Expecting euer when ſome enuious ſurge, / VVill in his briniſh bowels ſwallow him.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book III, canto V, stanza 39:

     Dwelling in a pleasant glade, / With mountains round about environed.

   • c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

     Environed he was with many foes.

   • a. 1631, John Donne, Elegy XII: His Parting from Her

     Environ me with darkness whilst I write.

   • 1673, John Milton, “I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs”:

     I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs

     By the known rules of antient libertie,

     When strait a barbarous noise environs me

     Of Owles and Cuckoes, Asses, Apes and Doggs.

   • 1894, Henry Gough; James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 231:

     Azure, an annulet environing a barrulet, between two bars, and in chief & cross patty fitchy […]

Related terms

• environment

Translations

To encircle, surround — See also translations at encircle,‎ surround

• Bulgarian: окръжавам (bg) (okrǎžavam), заобикалям (bg) (zaobikaljam)

• Portuguese: circundar (pt), rodear (pt)

Further reading

• “environ” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• “environ” in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• environ at OneLook Dictionary Search.

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French

Etymology

From en (“in”) + viron (“a turn”), from virer (“to turn, veer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.vi.ʁɔ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Adverb

environ

1. about, close to, around

   un salaire annuel d'environ 7 millions d'euros

   an annual salary of around 7 million euros

   Il y a dans ce coffre-fort environ trois mille francs, quatre mille francs

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Il mesure environ un mètre.

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Noun

environ m (plural environs)

1. (especially in plural) a surrounding area

Derived terms

• aux environs de

Related terms

• environnement

Further reading

• “environ”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• innover

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Middle French

Adverb

environ

1. about; around; roughly
2. around
   • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 23:

     il regarda environ soy

     he look around him

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Occitan

Pronunciation

• Audio (Languedocien)

  (file)

Adverb

environ

1. about, around, approximately