Envelop
verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 To surround, enclose or enfold. transitive
"In the fulness of time there was an eruption of the merry-makers to the sidewalk. The uninvited guests enveloped and permeated them, and upon the night air rose joyous cries, congratulations, laughter and unclassified noises born of McGary's oblations to the hymeneal scene."
- 2 enclose or enfold completely with or as if with a covering wordnet
Example
More examples"The world has not escaped from the darkness. The long shadows of conflict and crisis envelop us still. But we meet today in an atmosphere of rising hope, and at a moment of comparative calm."
Etymology
From Middle English envolupen, from Old French anveloper, envoluper (modern French envelopper), from en- + voloper, vloper (“to wrap, wrap up”) (compare Italian -viluppare; Old Italian alternative form goluppare (“to wrap”)) from Vulgar Latin *vuloppare (“to wrap”), from Proto-Germanic *wlappaną, *wrappaną (“to wrap, roll up, turn, wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to turn, bend”) http://www.wordnik.com/words/envelop. Akin to Middle English wlappen (“to wrap, fold”) (Modern English lap (“to wrap, involve, fold”)), Middle English wrappen (“to wrap”), Middle Dutch lappen (“to wrap up, embrace”), Danish dialectal vravle (“to wind, twist”), Middle Low German wrempen (“to wrinkle, distort”), Old English wearp (“warp”). Doublet of enwrap.
More for "envelop"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.