Encroached (verb) – to enter by gradual steps or by stealth into the possessions or rights of another

Source: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/encroached

From “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner

I came across this word while reading “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner. It appears around the beginning of the reading when the author describes the relation between the neighborhood and the garages/cotton gins, it caught my interest because I had an idea of what it meant but didn’t know it’s exact definition so it made me curious to find out what the writer was trying to illustrate in the story.

“But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood; only Miss Emily’s house was left, lifting its stubborn and coquettish decay above the cotton wagons and the gasoline pumps-an eyesore among eyesores.”

After reading the definition of the word I better understand the context of how the author was using it in that part of the text. As seen in the quote, it’s used to describe how the garages and cotton gins slowly invaded the neighborhood, changing it in a way it wasn’t before.