Search the Dictionary

The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.

iverance. It concerned them first to sue out their livery from the unjust wardship of his encroaching prerogative. Milton.

make one's way with violence or effort; to bear onward forcibly; to crowd; to throng; to encroach. They pressed upon him for to touch him. Mark iii. 10.

Wrongful encroachment upon another's property; esp., any encroachment upon, or inclosure of, that which should be common or public, as highways, rivers, harbors, forts, etc. [Written also pourpresture.]

To resist or oppose effectually; as, to repel an assault, an encroachment, or an argument. [He] gently repelled their entreaties. Hawthorne.

A wall, or embankment, to resist encroachments of the sea.

thority of a lord; dominion. O'Neal never had any seigniory over that country but what by encroachment he got upon the English. Spenser.

To encroach; to intrench. Does it not seem as if for a creature to challenge to itself a boundless attribute, were to trench upon the prerogative of the divine nature I. Taylor.

forcible seizure of place, power, functions, or the like, without right; to commit unjust encroachments; to be, or act as, a usurper. The parish churches on which the Presbyterians and fanatics had usurped. Evelyn. And now the Spirits of the Mind Are busy with poor Peter Bell; Upon the rights of visual sense Usurping,…

Usurping; encroaching. [Obs.] Gauden.