Meanings
present singular third person ensearches · participle present ensearching · participle past ensearched · past ensearched · alternative insearch
- obsoletetransitiveTo search for; to seek.
by all the means you can to ensearch whether there is any meeting intended
1531, Thomas Elyot, The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC1 more example
Yet as naked as at the firſt bluſh it [the work] ſeemeth, if it ſhall ſtande wyth your Honour his pleaſure (whome I take to be an experte Lapidarie) at vacant houres to inſearche it, you ſhall finde therein ſtones of ſuch eſtimatiõ, as are woorthy to be coucht in riche and precious collets.
1577, Raphaell Holinshed; Richarde Stanyhurst [i.e., Richard Stanihurst], “The Historie of Irelande […]”, in The Firste Volume of the Chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande […], volume I, London: […] [Henry Bynneman] for Iohn Hunne, →OCLC, folio 1, verso, column 1
Origin
- Old Frenchencerchier
- Middle Englishenserchen
- Englishensearch
From Middle English enserchen, from Old French encerchier. See search.
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ensearch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ensearch
“ensearch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ensearch. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ensearch,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ensearch.
Source: ensearch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.