surround

English Online Dictionary. What means surround‎? What does surround mean?

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/
• 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.
2. (transitive) To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.

Synonyms

• environ, embed

• bebay
• beset

Translations

Noun

surround (plural surrounds)

1. (British) 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.

Derived terms

• surround sound

References

• “surround”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “surround”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.