enclosures

Noun

enclosure (countable and uncountable, plural enclosures)

1. (countable) Something that is enclosed, i.e. inserted into a letter or similar package.
   • There was an enclosure with the letter — a photo.
2. (uncountable) The act of enclosing, i.e. the insertion or inclusion of an item in a letter or package.
   • The enclosure of a photo with your letter is appreciated.
3. (countable) An area, domain, or amount of something partially or entirely enclosed by barriers.
   • He faced punishment for creating the fenced enclosure in a public park.
4. (uncountable) The act of separating and surrounding an area, domain, or amount of something with a barrier.
   • The enclosure of public land is against the law.
5. (broadly, uncountable) The act of restricting access to ideas, works of art or technologies using patents or intellectual property laws.
   • Copyright, from day one, was designed to be both an impediment and an incentive, a mechanism of enclosure (one that prevented the unlicensed printing of texts, thereby limiting access) and a catalyst of sorts, a structure to stimulate the production of literary goods by rewarding writers and...2014, Astra Taylor, chapter 5, in The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN
6. (uncountable, British History) The post-feudal process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership.
   • Strip-farming disappeared after enclosure.

See all 7 meanings of enclosure