Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
ENCROACHER — ENFORCING
ENCROACHER, n. One who enters on and takes possession of what is not his own, by gradual steps.
1. One who makes gradual advances beyond his rights.
ENCROACHING, ppr. Entering on and taking possession of what belongs to another.
ENCROACHING, a. Tending or apt to encroach.
The encroaching spirit of power.
ENCROACHINGLY, adv. By way of encroachment.
ENCROACHMENT, n. The entering gradually on the rights or possessions of another, and taking possession; unlawful intrusion; advance into the territories or jurisdiction of another, by silent means, or without right.
1. That which is taken by encroaching on another.
2. In law, if a tenant owes two shillings rent service to the lord, and the lord takes three, it is an encroachment.
ENCRUST, v.t. To cover with a crust. It is written also incrust.
ENCUMBER, v.t.
1. To load; to clog; to impede motion with a load, burden or any thing inconvenient to the limbs; to render motion or operation difficult or laborious.
2. To embarrass; to perplex; to obstruct.
3. To load with debts; as, an estate is encumbered with mortgages, or with a widow’s dower.
ENCUMBERED, pp. Loaded; impeded in motion or operation, by a burden or difficulties; loaded with debts.
ENCUMBERING, ppr. Loading; clogging; rendering motion or operation difficult; loading with debts.
ENCUMBRANCE, n. A load; any thing that impedes motion, or renders it difficult and laborious; clog; impediment.
1. Useless addition or load.
Strip from the branching Alps their piny load,
The huge encumbrance of horrific wood.
2. Load or burden on an estate; a legal claim on an estate, for the discharge of which the estate is liable.
ENCYCLICAL, a. [Gr. a circle.] Circular; sent to many persons or places; intended for many, or for a whole order of men. [This word is not used. We now use circular.]
ENCYCLOPEDIA, ENCYCLOPEDY, n. [Gr. in, a circle, and instruction; instruction in a circle, or circle of instruction.]
The circle of sciences; a general system of instruction or knowledge. More particularly, a collection of the principal facts, principles and discoveries, in all branches of science and the arts, digested under proper titles and arranged in alphabetical order; as the French Encyclopedia; the Encyclopedia Britannica.
ENCYCLOPEDIAN, a. Embracing the whole circle of learning.
ENCYCLOPEDIST, n. The compiler of an Encyclopedia, or one who assists in such compilation.
ENCYSTED, a. [from cyst.] Inclosed in a bag, bladder or vesicle; as an encysted tumor.
END, n.
1. The extreme point of a line, or of anything that has more length than breadth; as the end of a house; the end of a table; the end of a finger; the end of a chain or rope. When bodies or figures have equal dimensions, or equal length and breadth, the extremities are called sides.
2. The extremity or last part, in general; the close or conclusion, applied to time.
At the end of two months, she returned. Judges 11:39.
3. The conclusion or cessation of an action.
Of the increase of his government there shall be no end. Isaiah 9:7.
4. The close or conclusion; as the end of a chapter.
5. Ultimate state or condition; final doom.
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. Psalm 37:37.
6. The point beyond which no progression can be made.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end. Psalm 107:27.
7. Final determination; conclusion of debate or deliberation.
My guilt be on my head and there’s an end!
8. Close of life; death; decease.
Unblamed through life, lamented in thy end.
9. Cessation; period; close of a particular state of things; as the end of the world.
10. Limit; termination.
There is no end of the store. Nahum 2:9.
11. Destruction. Amos 8:2.
The end of all flesh is come. Genesis 6:13.
12. Cause of death; a destroyer.
And award
Either of you to be the other’s end.
13. Consequence; issue; result; conclusive event; conclusion.
The end of these things is death. Romans 6:21.
14. A fragment or broken piece.
Old odd ends.
15. The ultimate point or thing at which one aims or directs his views; the object intended to be reached or accomplished by any action or scheme; purpose intended; scope; aim; drift; as private ends; public ends.
Two things I shall propound to you, as ends.
The end of the commandments is charity. 1 Timothy 1:5.
A right to the end, implies a right to the means necessary for attaining it.
16. An end, for on end, upright; erect; as, his hair stands an end.
17. The ends of the earth, in scripture, are the remotest parts of the earth, or the inhabitants of those parts.
END, v.t. To finish; to close; to conclude; to terminate; as, to end a controversy; to end a war.
On the seventh day God ended his work. Genesis 2:2.
1. To destroy; to put to death.
King Harry, thy sword hath ended him.
END, v.i. To come to the ultimate point; to be finished; as, a voyage ends by the return of a ship.
1. To terminate; to close; to conclude. The discourse ends with impressive words.
2. To cease; to come to a close. Winter ends in March, and summer in September. A good like ends in peace.
END-ALL, n. Final close. [Not used.]
ENDAMAGE, v.t. [from damage.] To bring loss or damage to; to harm; to injure; to mischief; to prejudice.
The trial hath endamaged thee no way.
So thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings. Ezra 4:13.
ENDAMAGED, pp. Harmed; injured.
ENDAMAGEMENT, n. Damage; loss; injury.
ENDAMAGING, ppr. Harming; injuring.
ENDANGER, v.t. [from danger.] To put in hazard; to bring into danger or peril; to expose to loss or injury. We dread any thing that endangers our life, our peace or our happiness.
1. To incur the hazard of. [Unusual.]
ENDANGERED, pp. Exposed to loss or injury.
ENDANGERING, ppr. Putting in hazard; exposing to loss or injury.
ENDANGERING, n. Injury; damage.
ENDANGERMENT, n. Hazard; danger.
ENDEAR, v.t. [from dear.] To make dear; to make more beloved. The distress of a friend endears him to us, by exciting our sympathy.
1. To raise the price. [Not in use.]
ENDEARED, pp. Rendered dear, beloved, or more beloved.
ENDEARING, ppr. Making dear or more beloved.
ENDEARMENT, n. The cause of love; that which excites or increases affection, particularly that which excites tenderness of affection.
Her first endearments twining round the soul.
1. The state of being beloved; tender affection.
ENDEAVOR, n. endev’or. An effort; an essay; an attempt; an exertion of physical strength, or the intellectual powers, towards the attainment of an object.
The bold and sufficient pursue their game with more passion, endeavor and application, and therefore often succeed.
Imitation is the endeavor of a later poet to write like one who has written before him on the same subject.
Labor is a continued endeavor, or a succession of endeavors.
ENDEAVOR, v.i. endev’or. To exert physical strength or intellectual power, for the accomplishment of an object; to try; to essay; to attempt. In a race, each man endeavors to outstrip his antagonist. A poet may endeavor to rival Homer, but without success. It is followed by after before a noun; as, the christian endeavors after more strict conformity to the example of Christ.
1. v.t. To attempt to gain; to try to effect.
It is our duty to endeavor the recovery of these beneficial subjects.
ENDEAVORED, pp. Essayed; attempted.
ENDEAVORER, n. One who makes an effort or attempt.
ENDEAVORING, ppr. Making an effort or efforts; striving; essaying; attempting.
ENDECAGON, n. A plain figure of eleven sides and angles.
ENDEICTIC, a. [Gr. to show.] Showing; exhibiting. An endeictic dialogue, in the Platonic philosophy, is one which exhibits a specimen of skill.
ENDEMIC, ENDEMICAL
ENDEMIAL, a. [Gr. people.] Peculiar to a people or nation. An endemic disease, is one to which the inhabitants of a particular country are peculiarly subject, and which, for that reason, may be supposed to proceed from local causes, as bad air or water. The epithet is also applied to a disease which prevails in a particular season, chiefly or wholly in a particular place.
ENDENIZE, v.t. To make free; to naturalize; to admit to the privileges of a denizen. [Little used.]
ENDENIZEN, v.t. [from denizen.] To naturalize.
ENDICT, ENDICTMENT. [See Indict, Indictment.]
ENDING, ppr. [from end.] Terminating; closing; concluding.
ENDING, n. Termination; conclusion.
1. In grammar, the terminating syllable or letter of a word.
ENDITE. [See Indite.]
ENDIVE, n. [L. intybum.] A species of plant, of the genus Cichorium or succory; used as a salad.
ENDLESS, a. [See End.] Without end; having no end or conclusion; applied to length, and to duration; as an endless line; endless progression; endless duration; endless bliss.
1. Perpetual; incessant; continual; as endless praise; endless clamor.
ENDLESSLY, adv. Without end or termination; as, to extend a line endlessly.
1. Incessantly; perpetually; continually.
ENDLESSNESS, n. Extension without end or limit.
1. Perpetuity; endless duration.
ENDLONG, adv. In a line; with the end forward. [Little used.]
ENDOCTRINE, v.t. To teach; to indoctrinate. [See the latter word.]
ENDORSE, ENDORSEMENT. [See Indorse, Indorsement.]
ENDOSS, v.t. To engrave or carve.
ENDOW, v.t. [L. dos, doto, or a different Celtic root.]
1. To furnish with a portion of goods or estate, called dower; to settle a dower on, as on a married woman or widow.
A wife is by law entitled to be endowed of all lands and tenements, of which her husband was seized in fee simple or fee tail during the coverture.
2. To settle on, as a permanent provision; to furnish with a permanent fund of property; as, to endow a church; to endow a college with a fund to support a professor.
3. To enrich or furnish with any gift, quality or faculty; to indue. Man is endowed by his maker with reason.
ENDOWED, pp. Furnished with a portion of estate; having dower settled on; supplied with a permanent fund; indued.
ENDOWING, ppr. Settling a dower on; furnishing with a permanent fund; inducing.
ENDOWMENT, n. The act of settling dower on a woman, or of settling a fund or permanent provision for the support of a parson or vicar, or of a professor, etc.
1. That which is bestowed or settled on; property, fund or revenue permanently appropriated to any object; as the endowments of a church, of a hospital, or of a college.
2. That which is given or bestowed on the person or mind by the creator; gift of nature; any quality or faculty bestowed by the Creator. Natural activity of limbs is an endowment of the body; natural vigor of intellect is an endowment of the mind. Chatham and Burke, in Great Britain, and Jan, Ellsworth and Hamilton, in America, possessed uncommon endowments of mind.
ENDRUDGE, v.t. endruj’. To make a drudge or slave. [Not used.]
ENDUE, v.t. [L. induo.] To indue, which see.
ENDURABLE, a. That can be borne or suffered.
ENDURANCE, n. [See Endure.] Continuance; a state of lasting or duration; lastingness.
1. A bearing or suffering; a continuing under pain or distress without resistance, or without sinking or yielding to the pressure; sufferance; patience.
Their fortitude was most admirable in their presence and endurance of all evils, of pain, and of death.
2. Delay; a waiting for. [Not used.]
ENDURE, v.t. [L. durus, duro.]
1. To last; to continue in the same state without perishing; to remain; to abide.
The Lord shall endure forever. Psalm 9:7.
He shall hold it [his house] fast, but it shall not endure. Job 8:15.
2. To bear; to brook; to suffer without resistance, or without yielding.
How can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? Esther 8:6.
Can thy heart endure, or thy hands be strong? Ezekiel 22:14.
ENDURE, v.t. To bear; to sustain; to support without breaking or yielding to force or pressure. Metals endure a certain degree of heat without melting.
Both were of shining steel, and wrought so pure.
As might the strokes of two such arms endure.
1. To bear with patience; to bear without opposition or sinking under the pressure.
Therefore, I endure all things for the elect’s sake. 2 Timothy 2:10.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. Hebrews 12:7.
2. To undergo; to sustain.
I wish to die, yet dare not death endure.
3. To continue in. [Not used.]
ENDURED, pp. Borne; suffered; sustained.
ENDURER, n. One who bears, suffers or sustains.
1. He or that which continues long.
ENDURING, ppr. Lasting; continuing without perishing; bearing; sustaining; supporting with patience, or without opposition or yielding.
1. Lasting long; permanent.
ENDWISE, adv. On the end; erectly; in an upright position.
1. With the end forward.
ENECATE, v.t. [L. eneco.] To kill. [Not in use.]
ENEID, n. [L. Eneis.] A heroic poem, written by Virgil, in which Eneas is the hero.
ENEMY, n. [L. inimicus.]
1. A foe; an adversary. A private enemy is one who hates another and wishes him injury, or attempts to do him injury to gratify his own malice or ill will. A public enemy or foe, is one who belongs to a nation or party, at war with another.
I say to you, love your enemies. Matthew 5:44.
Enemies in war; in peace friends.
2. One who hates or dislikes; as an enemy to truth or falsehood.
3. In theology, and by way of eminence, the enemy is the Devil; the archfiend.
4. In military affairs, the opposing army or naval force in war, is called the enemy.
ENERGETIC, ENERGETICAL, a. [Gr. work. See Energy.]
1. Operating with force, vigor and effect; forcible; powerful; efficacious. We say, the public safety required energetic measures. The vicious inclinations of men can be restrained only by energetic laws. [Energic is not used.]
2. Moving; working; active; operative. We must conceive of God as a Being eternally energetic.
ENERGETICALLY, adv. With force and vigor; with energy and effect.
ENERGIZE, v.i. [from energy.] To act with force; to operate with vigor; to act in producing an effect.
ENERGIZE, v.t. To give strength or force to; to give active vigor to.
ENERGIZED, pp. Invigorated.
ENERGIZER, n. He or that which gives energy; he or that which acts in producing an effect.
ENERGIZING, ppr. Giving energy, force or vigor; acting with force.
ENERGY, n. [Gr. work.]
1. Internal or inherent power; the power of operating, whether exerted or not; as men possessing energies sometimes suffer them to lie inactive. Danger will rouse the dormant energies of our natures into action.
2. Power exerted; vigorous operation; force; vigor. God, by his Almighty energy, called the universe into existence. The administration of the laws requires energy in the magistrate.
3. Effectual operation; efficacy; strength or force producing the effect.
Beg the blessed Jesus to give an energy to your imperfect prayers, by his most powerful intercession.
4. Strength of expression; force of utterance; life; spirit; emphasis. The language of Lord Chatham is remarkable for its energy.
ENERVATE, a. [infra.] Weakened; weak; without strength or force.
1. To deprive of nerve, force or strength; to weaken; to render feeble. Idleness and voluptuous indulgences enervate the body. Vices and luxury enervate the strength of state.
2. To cut the nerves; as, to enervate a horse.
ENERVATED, pp. Weakened; enfeebled; emasculated.
ENERVATING, ppr. Depriving of strength, force or vigor; weakening; enfeebling.
ENERVATION, n. The act of weakening, or reducing strength.
1. The state of being weakened; effeminacy.
ENERVE, v.t. everv’. To weaken; the same as enervate.
ENFAMISH, v.t. To famish. [See Famish.]
ENFEEBLE, v.t. [from feeble.] To deprive of strength; to reduce the strength or force of; to weaken; to debilitate; to enervate. Intemperance enfeebles the body, and induces premature infirmity. Excessive grief and melancholy enfeeble the mind. Long wars enfeeble a state.
ENFEEBLED, pp. Weakened; deprived of strength or vigor.
ENFEEBLEMENT, n. The act of weakening; enervation.
ENFEEBLING, ppr. Weakening; debilitating; enervating.
ENFELONED, a. [See Felon.] Fierce; cruel.
ENFEOFF, v.t. enfeff’. [Law L. feaffo, feoffare, from fief, which see.]
1. To give one a feud; hence, to invest with a fee; to give to another any corporeal hereditament, in fee simple or fee tail, by livery of seizin.
2. To surrender or give up. [Not used.]
ENFEOFFED, pp. Invested with the fee of any corporeal hereditament.
ENFEOFFING, ppr. Giving to one the fee simple of any corporeal hereditament.
ENFEOFFMENT, n. The act of giving the fee simple of an estate.
1. The instrument or deed by which one is invested with the fee of an estate.
ENFETTER, v.t. To fetter; to bind in fetters.
ENFEVER, v.t. To excite fever in.
ENFIERCE, v.t. enfers’. To make fierce. [Not in use.]
ENFILADE, n. [L. filum.] A line or straight passage; or the situation of a place which may be seen or scoured with shot all the length of a line, or in the direction of a line.
ENFILADE, v.t. [from the noun.] To pierce, scour or rake with shot, in the direction of a line, or through the whole length of a line.
In conducting approaches at a siege, care should be taken that the trenches be not enfiladed.
In a position to enfilade the works at Fort Isle.
ENFILADED, pp. Pierced or raked in a line.
ENFILADING, ppr. Piercing or sweeping in a line.
ENFIRE, v.t. To inflame; to set on fire. [Not used.]
ENFORCE, v.t.
1. To give strength to; to strengthen; to invigorate. [See Def. 5.]
2. To make or gain by force; to force; as, to enforce a passage.
3. To put in act by violence; to drive.
Stones enforced from the old Assyrian slings.
4. To instigate; to urge on; to animate.
5. To urge with energy; to give force to; to impress on the mind; as, to enforce remarks or arguments.
6. To compel; to constrain; to force.
7. To put in execution; to cause to take effect; as, to enforce the laws.
8. To press with a charge.
9. To prove; to evince. [Little used.]
ENFORCE, v.i. To attempt by force. [Not used.]
ENFORCE, n. Force; strength; power. [Not used.]
ENFORCEABLE, a. That may be enforced.
ENFORCED, pp. Strengthened; gained by force; driven; compelled; urged; carried into effect.
ENFORCEDLY, adv. By violence; not by choice.
ENFORCEMENT, n. The act of enforcing; compulsion; force applied.
1. That which gives energy or effect; sanction. The penalties of law are enforcements.
2. Motive of conviction; urgent evidence.
3. Pressing exigence; that which urges or constrains.
4. In a general sense, any thing which compels or constrains; any thing which urges either the body or the mind.
5. A putting in execution; as the enforcement of law.