envelope

English Online Dictionary. What means envelope‎? What does envelope mean?

English

Etymology 1

From French enveloppe. The engineering sense is derived from flight envelope. The verb is from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛnvələʊp/, /ˈɒnvələʊp/, (chiefly a wrapping) /ˈɒnvləʊp/, (dated) /ˈɑ̃vələʊp/
• (General American) enPR: ĕn′vəlōp', än′vəlōp', IPA^(key): /ˈɛnvəˌloʊp/, /ˈɑn-/, /-lop/
• Hyphenation: en‧vel‧ope

Noun

envelope (plural envelopes)

1. A paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing.
2. Something that envelops; a wrapping.

   Synonym: wrapper

3. A bag containing the lifting gas of a balloon or airship; fabric that encloses the gas-bags of an airship.

   Synonym: gasbag
4. (geometry) A mathematical curve, surface, or higher-dimensional object that is the tangent to a given family of lines, curves, surfaces, or higher-dimensional objects.
5. (electronics) A curve that bounds another curve or set of curves, as the modulation envelope of an amplitude-modulated carrier wave in electronics.
6. (music) The shape of a sound, which may be controlled by a synthesizer or sampler.
7. (networking) The information used for routing a message that is transmitted with the message but not part of its contents.

   Synonym: header

8. (biology) An enclosing structure or cover, such as a membrane; a space between two membranes
9. (engineering) The set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively.

   push the envelope
10. (astronomy) The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; a coma.
11. An earthwork in the form of a single parapet or a small rampart, sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

envelope (third-person singular simple present envelopes, present participle enveloping, simple past and past participle enveloped)

1. (transitive, rare) To put (something) in an envelope.

See also

• Wikipedia article on envelopes used for mailing
• Wikipedia article on envelopes in geometry
• ✉

Etymology 2

See envelop.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ĕn-vĕl'əp, IPA^(key): /ɛnˈvɛləp/
• for audio, see envelop

Verb

envelope (third-person singular simple present envelopes, present participle enveloping, simple past and past participle enveloped)

1. Archaic form of envelop.

References

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from French enveloppe, from envelopper.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: en‧ve‧lo‧pe

Noun

envelope m (plural envelopes)

1. envelope

Verb

envelope

1. inflection of envelopar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “envelope”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024