The Collaborative International Dictionary
Encroach \En*croach"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Encroached; p. pr. & vb. n. Encroaching.] [OF. encrochier to perch, prop., to hook, fasten a hook (perh. confused with acrochier, F. accrocher, to hook, get hold of, E. accroach); pref. en- (L. in) + F. croc hook. See Crook, and cf. Accroach.] To enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another; to trespass; to intrude; to trench; -- commonly with on or upon; as, to encroach on a neighbor; to encroach on the highway.
No sense, faculty, or member must encroach upon or
interfere with the duty and office of another.
--South.
Superstition, . . . a creeping and encroaching evil.
--Hooker.
Exclude the encroaching cattle from thy ground.
--Dryden.
Syn: To intrude; trench; infringe; invade; trespass.
Wiktionary
That encroaches. v
(present participle of encroach English)
WordNet
adj. gradually intrusive without right or permission; "we moved back from the encroaching tide"; "invasive tourists"; "trespassing hunters" [syn: encroaching(a), invasive, trespassing(a)]
Usage examples of "encroaching".
He fought back ferociously as others rushed for the encroaching samurai.
This man clattered up the wide stone steps of the wharf with the spare horse and raced its length while the other three slammed toward the encroaching Grays.
The frigate was too far from the harbor mouth for anyone aboard to see the encroaching fishing boats crowding in ambush.
The ambushing fishing ships with hostile samurai archers were closer but they were not encroaching as yet.
Alvito obeyed, then Toranaga settled himself on the sand dunes and waved his fan against the encroaching night bugs.
The climbers took themselves off under the shade of the encroaching jungle and ate their lunches.
The little queen acted as if she were protecting something from Menolly as well as the encroaching sea, and she looked about her.
The Weyrhall had been scrubbed and painted by the younger riders, and encroaching forest growth had been trimmed from individual weyrs.
Robinton paused to glance at Sebell, aware that he was encroaching on the new Masterharper's authority with the suggestion.
This territorialism, this line of demarcation Nikko had drawn with the encroaching Chenzeme tissue—it was so unnecessary.
As much as I want it, we can't risk destabilizing the encroaching layer.
He left behind an engineering problem Nikko had given him: how to channel a final burn through the steerage engines, now that their throats had been dissolved by the encroaching Chenzeme tissue?
Two years ago the engines had been pulled deep into the ship's tissue, away from the encroaching Chenzeme layer, while Nikko synthesized a fuel substitute.
A slackening of the previous tempo was inevitable, and there was little spare energy available to cut back the encroaching jungles of the equatorial region.
A few fortified cities defied the rising waterlevels and the encroaching jungles, building elaborate sea-walls around their perimeters, but one by one these were breached.