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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
encircle
verb
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The city is nearly encircled by rebel troops.
▪ The photo showed the captive sitting down, encircled by several armed men.
▪ Troops encircled the city and began firing rockets at the government buildings.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Because these constructs are highly correlated they may also be encircled as a way of indicating this clustering.
▪ Even the doorbell was wrong, a black button encircled by a tarnished yellow metal.
▪ He said that up to 1,000 guerrillas were trying to rout or encircle government posts to force defenders to flee.
▪ His pate was bald, encircled by a monk-like fringe of hair.
▪ In some instances, delegates were driven outside where they were encircled and shot by the police and an aroused white citizenry.
▪ The men encircled the hapless animals, beating and clubbing them, forcing them forward up the ramp.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Encircle

Encircle \En*cir"cle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Encircled; p. pr. & vb. n. Encircling.] [Pref. en- + circle: cf. OF. encercler.] To form a circle about; to inclose within a circle or ring; to surround; as, to encircle one in the arms; the army encircled the city.

Her brows encircled with his serpent rod.
--Parnell.

Syn: To encompass; surround; environ; inclose.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
encircle

c.1400, from en- (1) "make, put in" + circle (n.). Related: Encircled; encircling.

Wiktionary
encircle

vb. (context transitive English) To surround, form a circle around.

WordNet
encircle
  1. v. be around; "Developments surround the town"; "The river encircles the village" [syn: surround, environ, circle, round, ring]

  2. form a circle around; "encircle the errors" [syn: circle]

  3. bind with something round or circular [syn: gird]

Usage examples of "encircle".

Cst, increases as the square root of the product NIA, where N is the number of turns of wire in the coil, each wire carrying a current of I amps, and A is the area encircled by the wire.

She was indeed none other than Madame Angelin, coming quickly from the Rue de Lille, on her way to the homes of her poor, with the little chain of her little bag encircling her wrist.

The rest of the Bedu remained encircling them, watching and listening just as avidly.

As the seconds passed, a shaft of light slowly rose from the stone, moving higher and higher into the room until it touched and perfectly encircled the stained-glass domed ceiling and bathed it in a beautiful bloodred glow.

It must be a circumradiation--produced from the Supreme but from the Supreme unaltering--and may be compared to the brilliant light encircling the sun and ceaselessly generated from that unchanging substance.

He moved from chair to chair, leaving about each one an encircling ring of cigaret ashes, and carefully inspecting each new vase of flowers.

In the carving it may be seen that the throats of the girls are encircled by ropelike collars, presumably woven of some vegetable substance.

There will be literally hundreds of moving courseways crisscrossing and encircling the lobby, each of them ending at a designated elevator.

Now we have three great canals encircling each other, and several other canals cutting across them, so that even in the dryest season a Derku man can glide on his dragonboat like a crocodile from any part of our land to any other, and never have to drag it across dry earth.

A huge man stood behind it, his vest covering a once-white apron that encircled his Falstaffian stomach.

Miraculously the fires had missed two or three Inns but around them was stark emptiness, ash and embers, up to the charred encircling fence and the moat beyond.

The men of Garoo stopped a few feet away and began to encircle them stealthily.

One of the appliques was an intricate band of interlace and gems that was supposed to encircle the helm like a crown.

In a single mighty bound, he leaped clear over the encircling Gora and dashed for the indicated building.

The Soviets have by-passed Gorlitz and pushed on beyond Bautzen, which is encircled with its German garrison, in the hope of reaching Dresden by way of Bischofswerda.