late 14c., envolupen, "be involved" (in sin, crime, etc.), from Old French envoleper, envoluper "envelop, cover; fold up, wrap up" (10c., Modern French envelopper), from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + voloper "wrap up," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps Celtic (see Gamillscheg, Diez) or Germanic ("Century Dictionary"). Literal sense is from 1580s. Related: Enveloped; enveloping.
"a wrapper, an enclosing cover," specifically a prepared wrapper for a letter or other paper, 1705, from French enveloppe (13c.), a back-formation from envelopper "to envelop" (see envelop).
early 15c., "wrapped," from Latin involutus "rolled up, intricate, obscure," past participle of involvere "envelop, surround; roll into, wrap up" (see involve).
late 14c., "envelop, surround; make cloudy or obscure," from Old French involver and directly from Latin involvere "envelop, surround, overwhelm," literally "roll into," from in- "in" (from PIE root *en "in") + volvere "to roll," from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve." Mid-15c. as "concern oneself." Sense of "take in, include" first recorded c. 1600. Related: Involved; Involving.
Obscurest night involved the sky,
The Atlantic billows roared,
[Cowper, "The Castaway"]
late 14c., "condition of being twisted or coiled; a fold or entanglement," originally in anatomy, from Late Latin involutionem (nominative involutio) "a rolling up," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin involvere "envelop, surround, roll into" (see involve). Related: Involutional.
Old English fæðmian "to embrace, surround, envelop," from a Proto-Germanic verb derived from the source of fathom (n.); cognates: Old High German fademon, Old Norse faþma. The meaning "take soundings" is from c. 1600; its figurative sense of "get to the bottom of, penetrate with the mind, understand" is from 1620s. Related: Fathomed; fathoming.
"sikly envelop which the larvae of many insects spin as a covering while they are in the crysalis state," 1690s, from French coucon (16c., Modern French cocon), from coque "clam shell, egg shell, nut shell," from Old French coque "shell," from Latin coccum "berry," from Greek kokkos "berry, seed" (see cocco-). The sense of "one's interior comfort place" is from 1986. Also see -oon.
c. 1300, "to devise, plan;" early 14c. as "to surround, contain, envelop, enclose;" from Anglo-French cumpasser, Old French compasser "to go around, measure (with a compass), divide equally, calculate; plan" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *compassare "to pace out" (source of Italian compassare, Spanish compasar), from Latin com "with, together" (see com-) + passus "a step" (from PIE root *pete- "to spread"). Related: Compassed; compassing.