enclosure act
nounEnglish History.
any of the acts of Parliament passed from 1709 to 1869, requiring that private lands be fenced off from common lands.
Origin of enclosure act
1First recorded in 1880–85
Words Nearby enclosure act
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use enclosure act in a sentence
The remains of this cast-off shell still survive in parishes where no enclosure act happens to have swept them away.
The English Village Community | Frederic SeebohmWhat they call a statutory proceeding, shockingly careless and haphazard, and most ungermainely thrust into an enclosure act.
Cradock Nowell, Vol. 3 (of 3) | Richard Doddridge BlackmoreNo general enclosure act could be passed, though often suggested.
The English Utilitarians, Volume I. | Leslie Stephen
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