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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Envelop

En-vĕl'op, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. ENVELOPED; p. pr. & vb. n. ENVELOPING.] [Fr. envelopper, O. Fr. enveloper, enveloper, from en and voluper, voloper, Pr. voloper, envolopar, envelopar, It. inviluppare, avviluppare, to wrap up, viluppo, tuft, packet, parcel, bundle, intricacy, from Lat. volup, volupe, agreeably. See DEVELOP.]

Sense 1. To surround as a covering; to invest completely; to lie around and conceal; to surround; as, the fog envelops a ship.

Nocturnal shades this world envelop. Phillips.

Sense 2. To put a covering about; to wrap up; to inclose within a case, wrapper, integument or the like; to overlay; as, to envelop goods or a letter.

En'vel-ōpe or En-vĕl'op, n.

noun

n. [Fr. enveloppe. See supra.]

  1. That which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; a cover; especially, the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter.
  2. (Astron.) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; — called also coma.
  3. (Fort.) A mound of earth, raised to cover some weak part of the works. Brande.

☞ This word, in the orthography envelope, often has a semi-French pronunciation, ŏng've-lŏp', or ŏng've-lŏp'.