1. To infringe or to take advantage of someone or a situation in an underhanded manner: Wiretapping encroaches on people's rights to privacy.
2. To make inroads, to invade, to take over: The desert is encroaching on the grassland.

The hedge of Dustin's neighbor is encroaching on his property.

The ocean is slowly encroaching on the shoreline.

3. Etymology: from Old French en-, "in" + crochier, "to hook"; literally to get a hook into something that belongs to another person.

The related French word croc [pronounced, CROW], "hook" doesn't go back to Latin but to Germanic origins and it is related to Old Norse krokr, "hook", and to English crook

© ALL rights are reserved.
© ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
so you can see more of Mickey Bach's cartoons.