Enclosen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An old-fashioned past form meaning having been shut in, surrounded or hemmed in by walls, a fence or some other barrier
2. Archaic participle describing something that has been walled off, fenced in or placed inside a boundary
3. Obsolete past participle indicating that a thing has been closed in, encircled or set within a confining space

Etymology: "Enclose" comes from Old French "enclore," meaning "to shut in," which descends from Latin "inclaudere," built from "in-" and "claudere," "to shut." That same Latin root gave English "close," "clause," and "cloister," so the verb is a distant relative of words about shutting doors and gates. "Enclosen" is an older past participle. Middle English often formed participles with "-en," as in "proven" or "shapen," and "enclosen" kept that pattern after "enclosed," with "-ed," became the everyday form. Today it is mostly archaic or poetic, and it still carries the physical sense of being hemmed in by walls.