enclosure

Also in·clo·sure

[en-kloh-zher]

noun

1. something that encloses, as a fence or wall.

2. something that is enclosed in or along with something else, as a photograph sent in a letter.

3. an area, such as a plot of ground or an indoor surface, surrounded by a fence, rope, or other barrier.

4. the separation and appropriation of land by means of a fence.

5. an act or instance of enclosing.

6. the state of being enclosed.

7. Roman Catholic Church.,  the part of a monastery or convent canonically separated or restricted as the living quarters of the religious, which a person may leave only with special permission or gain entrance to by special dispensation.

enclosure

/ ɪnˈkləʊʒə /

noun

1. the act of enclosing or state of being enclosed

2. a region or area enclosed by or as if by a fence

3. 1. the act of appropriating land, esp common land, by putting a hedge or other barrier around it

   2. history such acts as were carried out at various periods in England, esp between the 12th and 14th centuries and finally in the 18th and 19th centuries

4. a fence, wall, etc, that serves to enclose

5. something, esp a supporting document, enclosed within an envelope or wrapper, esp together with a letter

6. a section of a sports ground, racecourse, etc, allotted to certain spectators

Other Word Forms

• nonenclosure noun
• preenclosure noun
• semienclosure noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of enclosure¹

First recorded in 1450–1500; enclose + -ure

Example Sentences

When the researchers set up a video screen close to the rescued chimps' enclosure, they saw the noses of animals that watched the footage warm up.

Read more on BBC

But that same year, Marineland was found guilty, under Ontario's animal cruelty laws, of abusing and neglecting three young black bears who were kept in small enclosures with inadequate access to water for months.

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He had argued he was under duress when he was forced to throw the bodies into the pig enclosure.

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Government officials were on hand to watch as a special fish “cake” was lowered into his enclosure.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In 2012, Shankar was shifted to a new enclosure that left him virtually in solitary confinement - despite a 2009 federal ban on keeping elephants alone for more than six months.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• cage 
• courtyard 
• pen