Encouragement noun [ Confer French encouragement .]
1. The act of encouraging; incitement to action or to practice; as, the encouragement of youth in generosity.

All generous encouragement of arts.

Otway.

2. That which serves to incite, support, promote, or advance, as favor, countenance, reward, etc.; incentive; increase of confidence; as, the fine arts find little encouragement among a rude people.

To think of his paternal care,
Is a most sweet encouragement to prayer.

Byron.

Encourager noun One who encourages, incites, or helps forward; a favorer.

The pope is . . . a great encourager of arts.

Addison.

Encouraging adjective Furnishing ground to hope; inspiriting; favoring. -- En*cour"a*ging*ly , adverb

Encowl transitive verb To make a monk (or wearer of a cowl) of. [ R.] Drayton.

Encradle transitive verb To lay in a cradle.

Encratite noun [ Latin Encratitae , plural, from Greek ... self-disciplined; ... in + ... strength.] (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect in the 2d century who abstained from marriage, wine, and animal food; -- called also Continent .

Encrease transitive verb & i. [ Obsolete] See Increase .

Encrimson transitive verb To give a crimson or red color to; to crimson. Shak.

Encrinic, Encrinal En*crin"i*tal adjective (Paleon.) Relating to encrinites; containing encrinites, as certain kinds of limestone.

Encrinite noun [ Greek ... in + ... a lily: confer French encrinite .] (Paleon.) A fossil crinoid, esp. one belonging to, or resembling, the genus Encrinus. Sometimes used in a general sense for any crinoid.

Encrinitic, Encrinitical adjective (Paleon.) Pertaining to encrinites; encrinal.

Encrinoidea noun plural [ New Latin See Encrinus and -oid .] (Zoology) That order of the Crinoidea which includes most of the living and many fossil forms, having jointed arms around the margin of the oral disk; -- also called Brachiata and Articulata . See Illusts . under Comatula and Crinoidea .

Encrinus noun ; plural Encrini . [ New Latin See Encrinite .] (Paleon.) A genus of fossil encrinoidea, from the Mesozoic rocks.

Encrisped adjective Curled. [ Obsolete] Skelton.

Encroach intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Encroached ; present participle & verbal noun Encroaching .] [ Old French encrochier to perch, prop., to hook, fasten a hook (perh. confused with acrochier , French accrocher , to hook, get hold of, English accroach ); prefix en- (L. in ) + French croc hook. See Crook , and confer Accroach .] To enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another; to trespass; to intrude; to trench; -- commonly with on or upon ; as, to encroach on a neighbor; to encroach on the highway.

No sense, faculty, or member must encroach upon or interfere with the duty and office of another.

South.

Superstition, . . . a creeping and encroaching evil.

Hooker.

Exclude the encroaching cattle from thy ground.

Dryden.

Syn. -- To intrude; trench; infringe; invade; trespass.

Encroach noun Encroachment. [ Obsolete] South.

Encroacher noun One who by gradual steps enters on, and takes possession of, what is not his own.

Encroachingly adverb By way of encroachment.

Encroachment noun
1. The act of entering gradually or silently upon the rights or possessions of another; unlawful intrusion.

An unconstitutional encroachment of military power on the civil establishment.

Bancroft.

2. That which is taken by encroaching on another.

3. (Law) An unlawful diminution of the possessions of another.

Encrust transitive verb To incrust. See Incrust .

Encrustment noun That which is formed as a crust; incrustment; incrustation.

Disengaging truth from its encrustment of error.

I. Taylor.

Encumber transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Encumbered ; present participle & verbal noun Encumbering .] [ French encombrer ; prefix en- (L. in ) + Old French combrer to hinder. See Cumber , and confer Incumber .] [ Written also incumber .]
1. To impede the motion or action of, as with a burden; to retard with something superfluous; to weigh down; to obstruct or embarrass; as, his movements were encumbered by his mantle; his mind is encumbered with useless learning.

Not encumbered with any notable inconvenience.

Hooker.

2. To load with debts, or other legal claims; as, to encumber an estate with mortgages.

Syn. -- To load; clog; oppress; overload; embarrass; perplex; hinder; retard; obstruct; check; block.

Encumberment noun [ Confer French encombrement .] Encumbrance. [ R.]

Encumbrance noun [ Confer Old French encombrance . Confer Incumbrance .]
1. That which encumbers; a burden which impedes action, or renders it difficult and laborious; a clog; an impediment. See Incumbrance .

2. (Law) Same as Incumbrance .

Syn. -- Burden; clog; impediment; check; hindrance.

Encumbrancer noun (Law) Same as Incumbrancer .

Encurtain transitive verb To inclose with curtains.

Encyclic, Encyclical adjective [ Latin encyclios of a circle, general, Greek ...; ... in + ... circle: confer French encyclique . See Cycle .] Sent to many persons or places; intended for many, or for a whole order of men; general; circular; as, an encyclical letter of a council, of a bishop, or the pope.

Encyclic, Encyclical noun An encyclical letter, esp. one from a pope. Shipley.

Encyclopedia, Encyclopædia noun [ New Latin , from Greek ..., for ... ..., instruction in the circle of arts and sciences: confer French encyclopédie . See Cyclopedia , and Encyclical .] [ Formerly written encyclopædy and encyclopedy .] The circle of arts and sciences; a comprehensive summary of knowledge, or of a branch of knowledge; esp., a work in which the various branches of science or art are discussed separately, and usually in alphabetical order; a cyclopedia.

Encyclopediacal adjective Encyclopedic.

Encyclopedian adjective Embracing the whole circle of learning, or a wide range of subjects.

Encyclopedic, Encyclopedical adjective [ Confer French encyclopédique .] Pertaining to, or of the nature of, an encyclopedia; embracing a wide range of subjects.

Encyclopedism noun The art of writing or compiling encyclopedias; also, possession of the whole range of knowledge; encyclopedic learning.

Encyclopedist noun [ Confer French encyclopédiste .] The compiler of an encyclopedia, or one who assists in such compilation; also, one whose knowledge embraces the whole range of the sciences.

The Encyclopedists , the writers of the great French encyclopedia which appeared in 1751-1772. The editors were Diderot and D'Alembert. Among the contributors were Voltaire and Rousseau.

Encyst transitive verb To inclose in a cyst.

Encystation noun Encystment.

Encysted adjective Inclosed in a cyst, or a sac, bladder, or vesicle; as, an encysted tumor.

The encysted venom, or poison bag, beneath the adder's fang.

Coleridge.

Encystment noun
1. (Biol.) A process which, among some of the lower forms of life, precedes reproduction by budding, fission, spore formation, etc.

» The animal ( a ) first contracts its body to a globular mass ( b ) and then secretes a transparent cyst ( c ), after which the mass divides into two or more parts (as in d e ), each of which attains freedom by the bursting of the cyst, and becomes an individual animal.

2. (Zoology) A process by which many internal parasites, esp. in their larval states, become inclosed within a cyst in the muscles, liver, etc. See Trichina .

End (ĕnd) noun [ Middle English & Anglo-Saxon ende ; akin to Old Saxon endi , Dutch einde , eind , Old High German enti , German ende , Icelandic endir , endi , Swedish ände , Danish ende , Goth. andeis , Sanskrit anta . √208. Confer Ante- , Anti- , Answer .]
1. The extreme or last point or part of any material thing considered lengthwise (the extremity of breadth being side ); hence, extremity, in general; the concluding part; termination; close; limit; as, the end of a field, line, pole, road; the end of a year, of a discourse; put an end to pain; -- opposed to beginning , when used of anything having a first part.

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof.

Eccl. vii. 8.

2. Point beyond which no procession can be made; conclusion; issue; result, whether successful or otherwise; conclusive event; consequence.

My guilt be on my head, and there an end .

Shak.

O that a man might know
The end of this day's business ere it come!

Shak.

3. Termination of being; death; destruction; extermination; also, cause of death or destruction.

Unblamed through life, lamented in thy end .

Pope.

Confound your hidden falsehood, and award
Either of you to be the other's end .

Shak.

I shall see an end of him.

Shak.

4. The object aimed at in any effort considered as the close and effect of exertion; ppurpose; intention; aim; as, to labor for private or public ends .

Losing her, the end of living lose.

Dryden.

When every man is his own end , all things will come to a bad end.

Coleridge.

5. That which is left; a remnant; a fragment; a scrap; as, odds and ends .

I clothe my naked villainy
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ,
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.

Shak.

6. (Carpet Manuf.) One of the yarns of the worsted warp in a Brussels carpet.

An end . (a) On end; upright; erect; endways. Spenser (b) To the end; continuously. [ Obsolete] Richardson. -- End bulb (Anat.) , one of the bulblike bodies in which some sensory nerve fibers end in certain parts of the skin and mucous membranes; -- also called end corpuscles . -- End fly , a bobfly. -- End for end , one end for the other; in reversed order. -- End man , the last man in a row; one of the two men at the extremities of a line of minstrels. -- End on (Nautical) , bow foremost. -- End organ (Anat.) , the structure in which a nerve fiber ends, either peripherally or centrally. -- End plate (Anat.) , one of the flat expansions in which motor nerve fibers terminate on muscular fibers. -- End play (Machinery) , movement endwise, or room for such movement. -- End stone (Horol.) , one of the two plates of a jewel in a timepiece; the part that limits the pivot's end play. -- Ends of the earth , the remotest regions of the earth. -- In the end , finally. Shak. -- On end , upright; erect. -- To the end , in order. Bacon. -- To make both ends meet , to live within one's income. Fuller. -- To put an end to , to destroy.

End transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Ended ; present participle & verbal noun Ending .]
1. To bring to an end or conclusion; to finish; to close; to terminate; as, to end a speech. "I shall end this strife." Shak.

On the seventh day God ended his work.

Gen. ii. 2.

2. To form or be at the end of; as, the letter k ends the word back .

3. To destroy; to put to death. "This sword hath ended him." Shak.

To end up , to lift or tilt, so as to set on end; as, to end up a hogshead.

End intransitive verb To come to the ultimate point; to be finished; to come to a close; to cease; to terminate; as, a voyage ends ; life ends ; winter ends .

End-all noun Complete termination. [ R.]

That but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here.

Shak.

Endable adjective That may be ended; terminable.

Endamage transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Endamaged (?; 48); present participle & verbal noun Endamaging .] [ Prefix en- + damage : confer French endommager .] To bring loss or damage to; to harm; to injure. [ R.]

The trial hath endamaged thee no way.

Milton.

Endamageable adjective Capable of being damaged, or injured; damageable. [ Obsolete]

Endamagement noun [ Confer French endommagement .] Damage; injury; harm. [ Obsolete] Shak.

Endamnify transitive verb To damnify; to injure. [ R.] Sandys.

Endanger transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Endangered ; present participle & verbal noun Endangering .]
1. To put to hazard; to bring into danger or peril; to expose to loss or injury; as, to endanger life or peace.

All the other difficulties of his reign only exercised without endangering him.

Burke.

2. To incur the hazard of; to risk. [ Obsolete]

He that turneth the humors back . . . endangereth malign ulcers.

Bacon.

Endangerment noun Hazard; peril. Milton.