▪ I. ‖ enceinte, n.
(ɑ̃sæ̃t)
[Fr.; f. on late L. type *incincta, f. ppl. stem of incingĕre to gird, surround closely.]
An enclosure; chiefly in Fortification (see quots.).
| 1708 Kersey, Enceinte, Compass, Inclosure. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Enceinte, in fortification, the wall, or rampart, which surrounds a place, sometimes composed of bastions and curtains, either faced or lined with brick, or stone, or only made of earth. 1866 Kingsley Herew. I. i, It did not seemingly form part of the enceinte of the mediaeval castle of the Wake. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 136/2 The ‘enceinte’ or ‘body of the place’ is the main enclosure of the fortress. |
▪ II. ‖ enceinte, a.
(ɑ̃sæ̃t)
Forms: 6 [insented] 6–8 enseint, 7 einsent, inseint, 8– enceinte.
[Fr.; = Pr. encinta, Sp. (written as two words) en cinta, It. incinta:—late L. in-cincta, explained by Isidore (6th c.) as ‘ungirt’, f. in- negative prefix + cincta, pa. pple. of cingĕre to gird.
Others explain the word as the pa. pple. of incingĕre to put a girdle on, gird (the It. and Pr. forms of this verb being used for ‘to render pregnant’), or as phrase (late L. *in cinctā = in cinctū) in a girdle. See Diez and Scheler.]
Of women: Pregnant. † privement enseint (legal AF.): see quot. 1613.
| [1599 Will of G. Taylard (Somerset Ho.), Yf my wife be pryvyment insented w{supt} a manchilde.] 1602 in J. P. Rylands Chesh. & Lanc. Fun. Certif. (Record Soc. 1882), Agnes was priviement enseint w{supt}{suph} a sonne. 1613 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 117 His wife priuement inseint (that is, so with childe as it is not discerned). 1723 Sheffield (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. (1753) II. 114 During a possibility of being left enceinte. 1766 Blackstone Comm. ii. xi. 61 Leaving his wife enseint or big with child. 1860 Tanner Pregnancy i. 26 Those Parisian ladies who were fortunately enceinte. |