?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) v. pr. iv. l. 4780 But þe eye of intelligence is heyȝer for it sourmounteþ þe envirounynge [L. ambitum] of þe vniuersite, [etc.].

?c1400 (c1380) G. Chaucer tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (BL Add. 10340) (1868) ii. pr. vii. l. 1503 Al þe envyronynge [L. ambitum] of þe erþe aboute ne halt but þe resoun of a prykke at regard of þe gretnesse of heuene.

1656 P. Heylyn Surv. Estate France 34 The principal environings are made by the Seine and the Marne.

1586 G. Whetstone Enemie to Vnthryftinesse f. 8^v The first Erector of the Romayn walles, was Romvlvs, yet Roome was nothyng so much bound vnto him, for the envyronyng of her fayre buildynges, with strong Bulwarkes, as [etc.].

1667 Duchess of Newcastle Life Duke of Newcastle i. 31 The Foot of both sides on the right and left Wings..for a long time together overpower'd and got ground of my Lords Foot, almost to the invironing of his Cannon.

1724 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. (ed. 2) Stipation, a Guarding, an Environing.

1847 Chambers's Edinb. Jrnl. 21 Aug. 115/1 As miserable as what comes under notice in any parts of Edinburgh or Glasgow, though by no means with the same environing of filth.

1879 Athenæum 11 Oct. 476/2 In the midst of his customary environings the Duc de Richelieu receives a visit from a young lady.

2001 R. Wagner Anthropol. of Subj. iii. x. 156 The symphony is..a kind of natural discovery—about life, and life's environing of itself within an environment that ‘works’.

?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) iv. xxiii. sig. Ee^v Octaedrons side being rationall, his enuironing dodecaedrons side is an Apotome, proportioned to the Octaedrons side.

1645 J. Evelyn Mem. (1871) 28 Jan. 122 Full of sweete shrubbs in the invironing hedges.

1681 I. Newton Let. ?Apr. (1960) II. 359 It will certainly heat ye central parts for it imports heat to ye contiguous matter..& keeps off all cool environing mediums..from coming neare ye central parts to cool them.

1740 W. Stukeley Stonehenge x. 44 The method of making these barrows was to dig up the turf for a great space round... Then with the chalk, dug out of the environing ditch, they powder'd it all over.

1789 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Glocestershire I. 11 Wainlode hill..commands the broadest, best view of the vale;—backed by its environing hills.

1832 G. Downes Lett. from Continental Countries I. 72 Blocks of granite, detached from the environing heights.

1860 J. Ruskin Mod. Painters V. 113 London..loses at least two out of three sunrises, owing to the environing smoke.

1957 G. Clark Archaeol. & Society (ed. 3) i. 36 The modern prehistorian..seeks to study prehistoric communities as wholes, to observe the interaction of their activities and organs both with one another and with their environing habitats and biomes.

1996 D. H. Fischer Great Wave (1997) iv. 233 Environing conditions that had set the price-revolution in motion were changing rapidly.