encrease

English

Noun

encrease (plural encreases)

1. Obsolete spelling of increase.
   • 1732, Paul de Rapin-Thoyras, The History of England:

     All counties, hundreds, wapentakes and trethings , shall stand at the old ferm, without any encrease, except in our Demesne Lands

Verb

encrease (third-person singular simple present encreases, present participle encreasing, simple past and past participle encreased)

1. Obsolete spelling of increase.
   • 1651, Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, Parthenissa:

     […] the coldness of her lover, the loss of her reputation, all contributed to make her miserable, and to encrease the frenzical disposition of her mind.

   • 1729, [Jonathan Swift], A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents, or the Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick, Dublin: […] S[arah] Harding, […], →OCLC, page 7:

     I have reckoned upon a Medium, that a Child juſt born vvill vveigh 12 pounds, and in a ſolar Year if tollerably nurſed encreaſeth to 28 Pound.

   • 1887, Sir William Hedges, Sir Henry Yule, The Diary of William Hedges, Esq.:

     I saw ye Taffaties and Atlasses in ye warehouse, and gave directions concerning their severall colours and stripes, ordering Mr. Charnock to use his best endeavours to encrease their quantity; […]

References

• “encrease”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.