What does envelop mean?

Definitions for envelop
ɛnˈvɛl əpen·vel·op

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word envelop.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. envelop, enfold, enwrap, wrap, encloseverb

    enclose or enfold completely with or as if with a covering

    "Fog enveloped the house"

GCIDE

  1. Envelopnoun

    (Geom.) A curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents.4. A set of limits for the performance capabilities of some type of machine, originally used to refer to aircraft; -- it is often described graphically as a two-dimensional graph of a function showing the maximum of one performance variable as a function of another. Now it is also used metaphorically to refer to capabilities of any system in general, including human organizations, esp. in the phrase push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine.

Wiktionary

  1. envelopverb

    To surround or enclose.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. To Envelopverb

    Etymology: enveloper, French.

    The best and wholesom’st spirits of the night envelop you, good provost. William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

    A cloud of smoke envelops either host,
    And all at once the combatants are lost:
    Darkling they join adverse, and shock unseen,
    Coursers with coursers justing, men with men. Dryden.

    It is but to approach nearer, and that mist that enveloped them will remove. John Locke.

    Nocturnal shades
    This world envelop, and th’ inclement air
    Persuades men to repel benumming frosts. Phillips.

    His iron coat, all over grown with rust,
    Was underneath enveloped with gold,
    Darkned with filthy dust. Fairy Queen.

Wikipedia

  1. envelop

    Envelopment is the military tactic of seizing objectives in the enemy's rear with the goal of destroying specific enemy forces and denying them the ability to withdraw. Rather than attacking an enemy head-on as in a frontal assault an envelopment seeks to exploit the enemy's flanks, attacking them from multiple directions and avoiding where their defenses are strongest. A successful envelopment lessens the number of casualties suffered by the attacker while inducing a psychological shock on the defender and improving the chances to destroy them. An envelopment will consist of one or more enveloping forces, which attacks the enemy's flank(s), and a fixing force, which attacks the enemy's front and "fixes" them in place so that they cannot withdraw or shift their focus on the enveloping forces. While a successful tactic, there are risks involved with performing an envelopment. The enveloping force can become overextended and cut off from friendly forces by an enemy counterattack, or the enemy can counterattack against the fixing force.According to the United States Army there exist four types of envelopment: A flanking maneuver or single envelopment consists of one enveloping force attacking one of the enemy's flanks. This is extremely effective if the holding forces are in a well defensible spot (e.g., Alexander the Great's hammer and anvil at the Battle of Issus) or if there is a strong, hidden line behind a weak flank (e.g. Battle of Breitenfeld (1631) and Battle of Rocroi). A pincer movement or double envelopment consists of two simultaneous flanking maneuvers. Hannibal devised this strategy in his tactical masterpiece, the Battle of Cannae. Later on, the Rashidun Caliphate General Khalid ibn al-Walid applied the maneuver in a decisive battle against the Sassanid Empire during the Battle of Walaja. In 1940 and 1941, in World War II, the Germans repeatedly employed this tactic to encircle hundreds of thousands of enemy troops at once, namely in the Battle of France and in Operation Barbarossa against the USSR. An encirclement whereby the enemy is surrounded and isolated in a pocket. The friendly forces can choose to attack the pocket or invest it (to stop resupplies and to prevent breakouts) and wait for a beleaguered enemy to surrender. A vertical envelopment is "a tactical maneuver in which troops, either air-dropped or air-landed, attack the rear and flanks of a force, in effect cutting off or encircling the force".A special type is the cabbage tactics that has been used by the Chinese Navy around disputed islands. Its goal is to create a layered envelopment of the target.

ChatGPT

  1. envelop

    An envelope is a flat rectangular paper container usually used to send letters, documents, or other small items through the mail. It typically has a sealable flap on one side for closing it. In a broader sense, envelope can also refer to something that wraps, covers, or contains something else. In mathematics, physics, and engineering, it's a curve or surface that represents the outer boundary or extreme points of a set of lines, curves, surfaces, or points. In music, it describes the variation in a sound over time, including changes in intensity, length, pitch, etc.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Envelopverb

    to put a covering about; to wrap up or in; to inclose within a case, wrapper, integument or the like; to surround entirely; as, to envelop goods or a letter; the fog envelops a ship

  2. Envelopnoun

    that which envelops, wraps up, encases, or surrounds; a wrapper; an inclosing cover; esp., the cover or wrapper of a document, as of a letter

  3. Envelopnoun

    the nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; -- called also coma

  4. Envelopnoun

    a work of earth, in the form of a single parapet or of a small rampart. It is sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it

  5. Envelopnoun

    a curve or surface which is tangent to each member of a system of curves or surfaces, the form and position of the members of the system being allowed to vary according to some continuous law. Thus, any curve is the envelope of its tangents

  6. Envelopnoun

    a set of limits for the performance capabilities of some type of machine, originally used to refer to aircraft. Now also used metaphorically to refer to capabilities of any system in general, including human organizations, esp. in the phrase push the envelope. It is used to refer to the maximum performance available at the current state of the technology, and therefore refers to a class of machines in general, not a specific machine

  7. Etymology: [OE. envolupen, envolipen, OF. envoluper, envoleper, F. envelopper; pref. en- (L. in) + voluper, voleper. See Develop.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Envelop

    en-vel′up, v.t. to cover by wrapping: to surround entirely: to hide.—n. Envelope (en′vel-ōp, sometimes, but quite unnecessarily, äng′vel-ōp), that which envelops, wraps, or covers, esp. the cover of a letter.—adj. Envel′oped (her.), entwined, as with serpents, laurels, &c.—n. Envel′opment, a wrapping or covering on all sides. [O. Fr. enveloper; origin obscure. Skeat refers it to the assumed Teut. root of M. E. wlappen, Eng. lap.]

Suggested Resources

  1. Envelop

    Envelop vs. Envelope -- In this Grammar.com article you will learn the differences between the words Envelop and Envelope.

How to pronounce envelop?

How to say envelop in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of envelop in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of envelop in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of envelop in a Sentence

  1. Rolling Stone:

    If it all seems too incestuous to be true, it was hardly unusual within the culture that followed Zucker wherever he went. For all his many journalistic wins, a brazen disregard for workplace ethics seemed to envelop his newsrooms — a function, perhaps, of his early successes and the privileges he enjoyed along the way.

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Translations for envelop

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"envelop." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/envelop>.

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    a hypothetical description of a complex entity or process
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