surround — English Dictionary

surround
Pronunciations (2)
  • /səˈɹaʊnd/
  • səˈɹaʊnd

Verb

  1. To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Synonyms
    Examples
    More examples (3)

    The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.

    It took a long time for the place to warm up and to counteract the cold and enable their fingers to cope with the delicate task of moulding, the men would often surround themselves with blocks of iron heated in the furnace.

    Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

    and this way they get rid of those grand and stubborn opinions that surround them.

    More examples (1)

    The superficial fascia surrounds the body and includes subcutaneous fat; the deep fascia surrounds the musculoskeletal system; the meningeal fascia surrounds the nervous system; the visceral fascia surrounds body cavities and organs.

  2. To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    The lions surrounded the deer herd so they had no way to escape.

    They surrounded each other in the classroom and started trading hits.

  3. To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.

    Usage
    • Obsolete
    • Transitive
    Examples

    to surround the world

    More examples (1)

    Unfitting it vvas, that the body of that vvorthy Patriarch [Joseph] (to vvhom all the land belonged by promiſe) ſhould ſteale into that Countrey in a clandeſtine vvay, and privately enter in at the poſtern door, rather let it ſolemnly ſurround the Countrey, and be brought in at the broad gates. Thus the corps of men of quality, though the Chancell-door be nearer, are borne through the porch and middle-alley to the place of their interment.

Noun

  1. Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    He drifted through the room, avoiding the furniture by instinct, closed the door that led to the passage, and only then flicked on his flashlight. It swept around the room, picking out a desk, a telephone, a wall of bookshelves, and a deep armchair, and finally settled on a handsome fireplace with a large surround of red brick.

Noun

  1. the area in which something exists or lives

    Examples

    the country — the flat agricultural surround

Verb

  1. extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle

    Examples

    The forest surrounds my property

  2. envelop completely

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    smother the meat in gravy

  3. surround so as to force to give up

    Broader terms
    Examples

    The Turks besieged Vienna

  4. surround with a wall in order to fortify

    Broader terms
Word forms
surroundssurroundingsurroundedsurroundedsurrounds

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