Circumscribe: to limit, or restrict; to place a boundary around; to encircle.

Your activities are likely circumscribed by your parents.

In the ebook, Via, I recommend you circumscribe television use in order to free up more time. Use the extra time in your life to learn something.

Circumscribe comes from the Latin words, circum (around) and scribere (to write). In this sense, to circumscribe is to draw a circle around.

Once a thief attacked a car load of blondes. He told them to get out of the car. Then, with chalk, he drew a large circle on the parking lot. Instructing the blondes to step into the circle and to remain there, he began pilfering the car.

As he robbed the vehicle, he heard hysterical laughing. He turned around to find the blondes looking extremely pleased with themselves.

“What’s so funny?” the robber wanted to know.

“Ha!” replied the blondes. “While you weren’t looking, we jumped out of the circle!”