Dictionary

enclosure en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɪnˈkləʊʒə/ (UK)
• /ɛnˈkloʊʒəɹ/ (US)
• /ɪnˈkloʊʒəɹ/ (US)
• /ɘnˈklɐʉʒɘ/ (New-Zealand)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English enclosure, from Old French enclosure, from enclore, from Latin inclūdere, inclūdō, from in- (“in”) + claudō (“to shut”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u- (“key, hook, nail”). Alike to inclusion.

Meanings

1. (countable) Something that is enclosed, i.e. inserted into a letter or similar package.
   • Mr Carlyle cut open the envelope, glanced at the enclosure, and in spite of his disappointment could not restrain a chuckle. 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
   • There was an enclosure with the letter — a photo.
2. (uncountable) The act of enclosing, i.e. the insertion or inclusion of an item in a letter or package.
   • The enclosure of a photo with your letter is appreciated.
3. (countable) An area, domain, or amount of something partially or entirely enclosed by barriers.
   • He faced punishment for creating the fenced enclosure in a public park.
   • Away from the village, there was an enclosure containing several large animals of a kind I had not seen before—shaggy, long-necked, small-headed creatures who stood or lay at ease around their pen. Alpacas? 1989, Octavia E. Butler, “Part III, Chapter 7”, in Imago, page 210:
   • And the village was deserted, the huts gaped black, rotting, all askew within the fallen enclosures. 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 199:
   • The glass enclosure holds the mercury vapor.
   • The winning horse was first into the unsaddling enclosure.
4. (uncountable) The act of separating and surrounding an area, domain, or amount of something with a barrier.
   • At first, untrained horses resist enclosure.
   • The enclosure of public land is against the law.
   • The experiment requires the enclosure of mercury vapor in a glass tube.
5. (broadly, uncountable) The act of restricting access to ideas, works of art or technologies using patents or intellectual property laws.
   • Copyright, from day one, was designed to be both an impediment and an incentive, a mechanism of enclosure (one that prevented the unlicensed printing of texts, thereby limiting access) and a catalyst of sorts, a structure to stimulate the production of literary goods by rewarding writers and publishers for their labor. 2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 5, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN:
   • The commons evokes resistance to “enclosure” in all its forms, whether in its early proto-capitalist form of fencing in commonly shared land, or in its contemporary forms of marshalling judicial restraints such as “patent” and “intellectual property” to police the ownership of ideas. 2019, Robert Stam, World Literature, Transnational Cinema, and Global Media, Routledge, →ISBN:
6. (qualifier:British History, uncountable) The post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership.
   • '[…] The inclosure of Norland Common, now carrying on, is a most serious drain. […]' 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
   • Strip-farming disappeared after enclosure.
7. (countable, uncountable) The area of a convent, monastery, etc where access is restricted to community members.

Forms

Deriveds

loudspeaker enclosure · speaker enclosure · banjo enclosure · antienclosure · nonenclosure

Translations (108)

roa-gal tio (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · la clausum (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · da bilag (something enclosed) · ja 別紙 (something enclosed) · pt cercado (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es clausura (inaccessible part of the monastery) · ga mainnear (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ru включение (act of enclosing) · ang tūn (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es encierro (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es cercamiento (something enclosed) · de eingefriedetes Grundstück (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · fr enclos (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · pl klauzura (inaccessible part of the monastery) · da indhegning (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · cs oplocení (act of enclosing) · mi taiepatanga (act of enclosing) · es encerradura (act of enclosing) · cmn 附件 (something enclosed) · la clausura (inaccessible part of the monastery) · mi taiepatanga (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · sv inhägnande (post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership) · la clausum (something enclosed) · ca tancat (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ru огоро́женное ме́сто (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · tr çevrelenmiş (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · de Einschließung (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · cs příloha (something enclosed) · ro împrejmuire (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · cmn 圈地運動 /圈地运动 (post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership) · de Hinzufügen (act of enclosing) · mi tāepatanga (act of enclosing) · ru вложе́ние (something enclosed) · es redil (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ga clós (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · fr cloître (inaccessible part of the monastery) · it recinto (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · de Einzäunen (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · es encerradero (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ca tancament (act of enclosing) · ru вложение (act of enclosing) · ja 囲い込み (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · sh одрађевина (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · sh odrađevina (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · hi बाड़ा (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · de Anlage (something enclosed) · bg приложе́ние (something enclosed) · es recinto (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · mi tāepatanga (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · de Beilegen (act of enclosing) · cs ohrazení (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · fr pièce jointe (something enclosed) · fr cloitrer (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · sv hage (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · fi liite (something enclosed) · es encierro (something enclosed) · ga fál (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · it clausura (inaccessible part of the monastery) · ga loca (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · nb innhegning (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · fi suljettu alue (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ca clausura (act of enclosing) · is girðing (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · sv inhägnad (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · fr encloîtrer (act of enclosing) · es cercamiento (act of enclosing) · cmn 圍場 /围场 (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · cu ограждениѥ (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · sh brànjevina (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ga bábhún (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es encerramiento (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · sh брањевито (something enclosed) · bg оградено място (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ca tancament (something enclosed) · de Einschließen (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · ru приложе́ние (something enclosed) · es encerradura (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · hi बाड़ (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · rif afray (something enclosed) · sh branjevito (something enclosed) · ru ограждение (act of separating and surrounding an area etc. with a barrier) · de Gehege (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es encierre (act of enclosing) · ca clausura (inaccessible part of the monastery) · es encerramiento (act of enclosing) · cs ohrazení (act of enclosing) · fi aidattu alue (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · grc περίβολος (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · sh бра̀њевина (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es encierro (act of enclosing) · es telera (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · de Klausur (inaccessible part of the monastery) · tr çitlenmiş (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · ga banrach (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · tr çitleme (post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership) · da indlæg (something enclosed) · de Beifügen (act of enclosing) · it allegato (something enclosed) · got 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌰 (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · nn innhegning (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · tr ilişik (something enclosed) · txb prautke (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · es reparto (post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership) · es aprisco (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · hi संलग्न (something enclosed) · ota قوری (area partially or entirely enclosed by walls, fences or buildings) · fr encloitrer (act of enclosing) · de Beilage (something enclosed)