Definition of "encompass"

encompass

/ɪnˈkʌmpəs/

verb
third-person singular simple present encompasses, present participle encompassing, simple past and past participle encompassed
1. (transitive) To form a circle around; to encircle.
2. (transitive) To include within its scope; to circumscribe or go round so as to surround; to enclose; to contain.
  Quotations
  his piercing inſtruments of ſight:Whose fiery circles beare encompaſſedA heauen of heauenly bodies in their Spheares:
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
3. (transitive) To include completely; to describe fully or comprehensively.
4. (transitive) To go around, especially, to circumnavigate.