environ

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

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

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 [...]

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

1. To surround; to encircle.
   • 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.

   • Spenser

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

   • Shakespeare

     Environed he was with many foes.

   • John Donne

     Environ me with darkness whilst I write.

• environment

• 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

• IPA^(key): /ɑ̃.vi.ʁɔ̃/

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environ

1. about, close to, around

   un salaire annuel d'environ 7 millions d'euros

   an annual salary of around 7 million euros

• “environ” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• innover

environ

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

     il regarda environ soy

     he look around him