surround definition

English

Etymology

From Middle English sourrounden (“to submerge, overflow”), from Middle French souronder, suronder, from Late Latin superundō, from super + undō (“to rise in waves”), from unda (“wave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /səˈɹaʊnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnd
• Hyphenation: sur‧round

Verb

surround (third-person singular simple present surrounds, present participle surrounding, simple past and past participle surrounded)

1. (transitive) To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.
   • 1944, Miles Burton, chapter 5, in The Three Corpse Trick:

     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.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     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.

   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 230c.

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

   • Encircle definition

     To surround, form a circle around. (1 of 2 encircle definitions)

   • Simultaneously definition

     Occurring at the same time.

   • Extend definition

     To increase in extent. (1 of 10 extend definitions)

   • Directions definition

     plural of direction
2. (transitive) To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.

   • Enclose definition

     to surround with a wall, fence, etc. (1 of 2 enclose definitions)

   • Confine definition

     To have a common boundary with; to border on. (1 of 2 confine definitions)

   • Escape definition

     To get free; to free oneself. (1 of 6 escape definitions)
3. (transitive, obsolete) To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.

   to surround the world

   • 1650, Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine

     the body of that worthy patriarch […] should steal into that country in a clandestine way, and privately enter in at the postern door; rather let it solemnly surround the country

   • Circumnavigate definition

     To travel completely around somewhere or something, especially by sail. (1 of 3 circumnavigate definitions)

Synonyms

• bebay
• beleaguer
• beset

Translations

Noun

surround (plural surrounds)

1. (Britain) Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.
   • 1972, Frederick Forsyth, The Odessa File, Viking, SBN 670-52042-x, chapter 15, page 283:

     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.

   • Fence definition

     A thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter. (1 of 8 fence definitions)

   • Border definition

     The outer edge of something. (1 of 6 border definitions)

Derived terms

• surround sound