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to write or engare around. [R.] Thereon is circumscribed this epitaph. Ashmole.

One who, or that which, circumscribes.

A small inclosed area; esp. one of the small spaces on the wings of insects, circumscribed by the veins.

An isolated or circumscribed formation, particularly where the strata dip inward, on all sides, toward a center; -- especially applied to the coal formations, called coal basins or coal fields.

said of natural or of moral objects; to lie along, or form, a boundary of; to inclose; to circumscribe; to restrain; to confine. Where full measure only bounds excess. Milton. Phlegethon . . . Whose fiery flood the burning empire bounds. Dryden.

A small circumscribed tumor of the eyelid caused by retention of secretion, and by inflammation of the Melbomian glands.

The center of a circle that circumscribes a triangle.

Capable of being circumscribed.

Capable of being circumscribed or limited by bounds.

Circumscribing or tending to circumscribe; marcing the limits or form of.

To circumscribe or go round so as to surround closely; to encircle; to inclose; to environ; as, a ring encompasses the finger; an army encompasses a city; a voyage encompassing the world. Shak. A question may be encompassed with difficulty. C. J. Smith. The love of all thy sons encompass thee. Tennyson.…

A smooth circumscribed surface; as, the articular facet of a bone.

Doted on; regarded with affection. [R.] Nor fix on fond abodes to circumscribe thy prayer. Byron.

A circumscribed swelling produced by an effusion of blood beneath the skin.

Incapable of being circumscribed or limited. Cranmer.

Of or pertaining to the people of an island; narrow; circumscribed; illiberal; contracted; as, insular habits, opinions, or prejudices. The penury of insular conversation. Johnson.

A genus of hepatic mosses, now much circumscribed, but formerly comprising most plants of the order, which is sometimes therefore called Jungermanniaceæ.

That which terminates, circumscribes, restrains, or confines; the bound, border, or edge; the utmost extent; as, the limit of a walk, of a town, of a country; the limits of human knowledge or endeavor. As eager of the chase, the maid Beyond the forest's verdant limits strayed. Pope.

Confined within limits; narrow; circumscribed; restricted; as, our views of nature are very limited. Limited company, a company in which the liability of each shareholder is limited by the number of shares he has taken, so that he can not be called on to contribute beyond the amount of his shares. [Eng.] Mozley & W.…

Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed. The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world. Bp. Wilkins.