Also 4 encountre, 6–8 incounter. [a. OFr. encontre-r, a Com. Romanic word, Pr., Sp., Pg. encontrar, It. incontrare:—late L. incontrāre, f. in in + contra against.]
1. trans. To meet as an adversary; to confront in battle, assail. Sometimes absol. with reciprocal sense. Also fig.
c. 1300. St. Brandan, 411. And encountrede this lithere fisch and smot to him faste.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 6. They that encountrid hercules.
c. 1500. Lancelot, 3261. And ywons king … Encounterit hyme in myddis of the gren.
1575. Vautrouillier, Luther on Ep. Gal., 139 b. But let vs suffer the law and the promise to encounter together.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 544. Astonied at the sight of a monstrous bull let loose and ready to incounter him.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, I. 2. He was provided with a Navy able to incounter a Kings power.
1626. Mead, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., I. 336, III. 250. The Duke was hotly encountered by the Sailors about this day sennight.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 125/126. They challenge, and encounter Breast to Breast.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., II. xxxviii. 394. The two kings encountered each other in single combat.
1792. Burke, Pres. State Affairs, Wks. 1815, VII. 90. Enemies very different from those she has hitherto had to encounter.
1851. Creasy, Decis. Battles (1864), 187. To encounter Varus’s army in a pitched battle.
† b. intr. Const. against, usually with. Obs.
1530. Wolsey, in Cavendish, Life (1825), I. 324, Against whom the King was constrained to encounter in his royal person.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind., II. I. (Arb.), 107. Encounteryng with them, he was repulsed with shame and damage.
1684. Contempl. State of Man, I. (1699), 109. That dreadful day wherein the Army of Vengeance … are to encounter with the Army of Sin.
1728. R. Morris, Ess. Anc. Archit., 18. The single Enemies I have to encounter with.
† 2. trans. To go counter to, oppose, thwart; † a contest, dispute. Also absol. Obs.
1549. Coverdale, Erasm. Par. Rom. 17. But some one will againe encounter and saye.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut., vi. 32/2. When they withstand God and incounter his word.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiii. (Arb.), 276. Nothing is so vnpleasant to a man, as to be encountred in his chiefe affection.
1638. Penit. Conf., vi. (1657), 99. Saint Augustine incountring that opinion,… reasoneth thus.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 79. From the intrinsecal nature of the things that encounter the possibility of an eternal successive duration in them.
1786. Burke, Art. agst. W. Hastings, Wks. XII. 144. The evidence of this man, not having been encountered at the time.
† b. intr. Const. with. Obs.
1677–8. Marvell, Corr., No. 340, Wks. 1872–5, II. 604. Lest I should happen to incounter with our proceedings.
† 3. trans. To be placed opposite, or in opposite directions, to (each other). Obs.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, VI. v. (1660), 405. She beareth … three Swords barwayes proper, the middlemost encountring the other two.
† b. intr. Const. with, Obs.
1659. Leak, Water-works, 34. There are Pins AE, incountring with Pins which are in PH.
4. To meet, fall in with (a person or thing), esp. casually. Sometimes absol. Also fig.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 240. ‘Treys encountre treys,’ quaþ he ‘in godhede and in manhede.’
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., III. (1520), 26/1. Pompei and he encountred togyder.
1528. Fox, in Pocock, Rec. Ref., I. 141. Encountering Mr. Silvester Darius in the same place.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. 466. Two men should incounter him by Rahels Sepulcher.
1662. Evelyn, Chalcogr. (1769), 80. Some rare things in stampi to be encountred amongst the collections of the curious.
1776. Johnson, in Boswell (1816), III. § 49. The most extraordinary young man that has encountered my knowledge.
1822. Byron, Werner, I. i. 322. We never met before, and never … may again encounter.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 8. 57. I encountered a considerable stream rushing across it [the glacier].
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, III. iii. 91. He knew the dictionary meaning of every word he encountered.
† b. intr. Const. with. Obs.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 190. A Christian Amaronite, who accidently encountred with vs.
1672. Marvell, Reh. Transp., I. 142. It would be difficult to quote twenty lines in Mr. Bayes, but we should encounter with the Roman Empire.
1767. Babler, I. 67. xv. Some how or other my eye encountered with Miss Maria’s at the end of this speech.
5. To meet with, experience (difficulties, opposition, etc.). Also with notion of 1: To face resolutely.
1814. D’Israeli, Quarrels Auth. (1867), 336. The Royal Society … encountered fierce hostilities.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 68. Disease was not, however, the only enemy which the British had to encounter.
1876. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 5 (1882), 141. From the Church he [Henry III.] encountered as resolute an opposition.
† b. intr. Const. with. Obs.
1581. Apol. Pr. Orange, in Phenix (1721), I. 450. If … I had not incounter’d with the Hatred of the Spanish Nation.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 14. They had not any Difficulties of Water to encounter with.
† 6. To go to meet. Also fig. Obs.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., III. i. 84. I will encounter darknesse as a bride And hugge it in mine armes. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., I. iii. 32. At the sixt houre of Morne, at Noone, at Midnight, T’ encounter me with Orisons.
¶ Bombastically used for: To go to, approach (nonce-use).
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. i. 82. Will you incounter the house.
† 7. To accost, address. Obs.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 36. With … smiling face … encountered him on this manner.
1590. Greene, Never too late (1600), 25. Isabel … incountred him thus. Gentle sir [etc.].
