Siege vs Surround - What's the difference?

In transitive terms the difference between siege and surround

is that siege is to assault a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege while surround is to enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.

siege

English

(wikipedia siege)

Alternative forms

* syege

Noun

(en noun)

(label) A seat.

#(label) A seat, especially as used by someone of importance or authority.

#*.

#*:Now Merlyn said kyng Arthur / goo thow and aspye me in al this land l knyghtes whiche ben of most prowesse & worship / within short tyme merlyn had founde suche kny?tesThenne the Bisshop of Caunterbury was fette and he blessid the syeges' with grete Royalte and deuoycyon / and there sette the viij and xx knyghtes in her ' syeges

#*1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queen) , II.vii:

#*:To th'vpper part, where was aduaunced hye / A stately siege of soueraigne maiestye; / And thereon sat a woman gorgeous gay.

#(label) An ecclesiastical see.

#(label) The place where one has his seat; a home, residence, domain, empire.

#The seat of a heron while looking out for prey; a flock of heron.

#(label) A privy or lavatory.

#(label) The anus; the rectum.

#*1646 , Sir (Thomas Browne), Pseudodoxia Epidemica , III.17:

#*:Another ground were certain holes or cavities observable about the siege ; which being perceived in males, made some conceive there might be also a feminine nature in them.

#(label) Excrements, stool, fecal matter.

#*1610 , (The Tempest) , by (William Shakespeare), act 2 scene 2

#*:Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam'st thou / to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?

#(label) Rank; grade; station; estimation.

#*(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

#*:I fetch my life and being / From men of royal siege .

#(label) The floor of a glass-furnace.

#(label) A workman's bench.

#:(Knight)

(label) Military action.

#A prolonged military assault or a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition.

#*1748 , (David Hume), Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Section 3 §5:

#*:The Peloponnesian war is a proper subject for history, the siege of Athens for an epic poem, and the death of Alcibiades for a tragedy.

#(label) A period of struggle or difficulty, especially from illness.

#(label) A prolonged assault or attack.

#*{{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 19, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= England 1-0 Ukraine , passage=But once again Hodgson's men found a way to get the result they required and there is a real air of respectability about their campaign even though they had to survive a first-half siege from a Ukraine side desperate for the win they needed to progress.}}

Derived terms

Verb

(sieg)

To assault a blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition; to besiege.

surround

English

Verb

(en verb)

(label) To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions.

*{{quote-book, year=1944, author=(w)

, title= The Three Corpse Trick, chapter=5 , passage=The hovel stood in the centre of what had once been a vegetable garden, but was now a patch of rank weeds. Surrounding this, almost like a zareba, was an irregular ring of gorse and brambles, an unclaimed vestige of the original common.}}

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.}}

* 2005 , (Plato), Sophist . Translation by Lesley Brown. .

and this way they get rid of those grand and stubborn opinions that surround them.

(label) To enclose or confine something on all sides so as to prevent escape.

To pass around; to travel about; to circumnavigate.

(Fuller)

Synonyms

Noun

(en noun)

(British) Anything, such as a fence or border, that surrounds something.

* 1972 , 670-52042-x, chapter 15, page 283:

He drifted through the room, avoiding the furniture by instinct, closed the door that led to the passage, and only then flicked on his flashlight.

It swept around the room, picking out a desk, a telephone, a wall of bookshelves, and a deep armchair, and finally settled on a handsome fireplace with a large surround of red brick.

Derived terms

* surround sound