trespass

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed into Middle English trespas, from Old French trespas (“passage; offense against the law”), from trespasser.

Noun

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trespass (countable and uncountable, plural trespasses)

  1. (law) An intentional interference with another's property or person.
    • 2019 December 18, Andrew Roden, “New measurements reveal improvement in punctuality”, in Rail, page 24:
      External infrastructure issues such as severe weather and trespass caused 17.1% of [train] cancellations, [...].
    • 2020 June 17, “Stop & Examine”, in Rail, page 71:
      Network Rail has produced a free downloadable comic highlighting the consequences of railway trespass. Between March 23 and April 26, there were 1,024 trespass incidents on the railway. [...] it is based on the company's award-winning safety film 18, which shows the dangers of trespass, especially around electrified lines.
  2. (archaic) sin
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English trespassen, borrowed from Old French trespasser (“to go across or over, transgress”), from tres- (“across, over”) + passer (“to pass”).

Verb

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trespass (third-person singular simple present trespasses, present participle trespassing, simple past and past participle trespassed)

  1. (intransitive, now rare) To commit an offence; to sin.
    Synonym: transgress
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To offend against, to wrong (someone).
  3. (intransitive) To go too far; to put someone to inconvenience by demand or importunity; to intrude.
    Synonym: cross the line
    to trespass upon the time or patience of another
    • 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
      "Indeed I have, sir," was her answer. "She is a great deal too ill to be moved. Mr. Jones says we must not think of moving her. We must trespass a little longer on your kindness."
  4. (law) To enter someone else's property illegally.
  5. (obsolete) To pass beyond a limit or boundary; hence, to depart; to go.
    Synonyms: exceed, surpass, transcend
  6. (transitive) To decree that a person shall be arrested for trespassing if he or she returns to someone else's land.
    The dean trespassed the streaker from his university.
    • 1996 April 16, Glenn Campbell, “Another Business Office Found”, in The Groom Lake Desert Rat‎[1], number 35, Rachel, NV, archived from the original on 23 February 1998:
      "You were trespassing on private property when you were taking pictures," he said, with no hint of courtesy. "I must trespass you. Come with me."
    • 2012 June 21, Greg O'Connor, “Criminal trespasses police officers”, in Stuff‎[2]:
      The entire police force has in effect been trespassed from a Wellington property to stop officers checking whether a heavy-sleeping offender is complying with an overnight bail curfew.
Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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