surround Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the area in which something exists or lives
    environment; surroundings; environs.
    • the country--the flat agricultural surround
  2. verb extend on all sides of simultaneously; encircle
    skirt; ring; border; environ.
    • The forest surrounds my property
  3. verb envelop completely
    smother.
    • smother the meat in gravy
  4. verb surround so as to force to give up
    beleaguer; circumvent; hem in; besiege.
    • The Turks besieged Vienna
  5. verb surround with a wall in order to fortify
    wall; palisade; fence; fence in.

WordNet

Sur*round" transitive verb
Etymology
OF. suronder to overflow, LL. superundare; fr. L. super over + undare to rise in waves, overflow, fr. unda wave. The English sense is due to the influence of E. round. See Super-, and Undulate, and cf. Abound.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Surrounded; present participle & verbal noun Surrounding
Definitions
  1. To inclose on all sides; to encompass; to environ.
  2. To lie or be on all sides of; to encircle; as, a wall surrounds the city.
    But could instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me. Milton.
  3. To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate; as, to surround the world. Obs. Fuller.
  4. (Mil.) To inclose, as a body of troops, between hostile forces, so as to cut off means of communication or retreat; to invest, as a city. Syn. -- To encompass; encircle; environ; invest; hem in; fence about.
Sur*round" noun
Definitions
  1. A method of hunting some animals, as the buffalo, by surrounding a herd, and driving them over a precipice, into a ravine, etc. U.S. Baird.

Webster 1913