sb. Also 8–9 envelop. [ad. Fr. enveloppe, f. envelopper: see ENVELOP v.
Walker 1791 records the custom then prevailing of pronouncing this word like the Fr. enveloppe. In sense 2 this pronunciation, or rather some awkward attempt at it is still very frequently heard, though there is no good reason for giving a foreign sound to a word which no one regards as alien, and which has been anglicized in spelling for nearly 200 years.]
1. That in which anything is enveloped; ‘a wrapper, integument, covering’ (J.).
1715. Kersey, Envelope, a cover for anything.
1796. C. Burney, Mem. of Metastasio, III. 142. He has consigned to my messenger … six volumes … not only without a box, but without any kind of envelope, or direction.
1811. Edin. Rev., XVIII. 226. The earth which serves as the envelope of the bones [in certain caverns].
1830. Sir J. Herschel, Stud. Nat. Phil., 79. The statue might be conceived encrusted in its marble envelope.
1845. Stocqueler, Handbk. Brit. India (1854), 346. The better class of females … are covered with an immense piece of cloth…; these envelopes are of white cloth.
1854. Brewster, More Worlds, ii. 21. The Earth is surrounded with an aerial envelope or atmosphere.
1865. Sat. Rev., 28 Oct., 555. The spirits leave behind them the crass and heavy envelope of their earthly tenement.
1873. H. Rogers, Orig. Bible, ii. (ed. 2), 90. The envelope which protects the chrysalis.
b. fig.
1741. Warburton, Div. Legat., II. 629. Their obvious sense that serves only for the envelope.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, II. xii. 370. Style should be the transparent envelop of our thoughts.
1829. I. Taylor, Enthus., iv. (1867), 78. The leading intention of both [Antinomianism and Stoicism] is to enclose the human mind in a perfect envelop of abstractions.
1865. Lecky, Ration. (1878), I. 300. Every dogmatic system … should be regarded as the vehicle or envelope of pure religion.
2. spec. The cover of a letter; now a small sheet of paper folded and gummed to serve as a cover for a letter.
a. 1714. Burnet, Own Time, I. (1724), 302. A letter from the King of Spain was given to his daughter by the Spanish Ambassador, and she tore the envelope, and let it fall.
1726. Swift, To Grub St. Poets, Wks. 1735, II. 368. Lend these to Paper-sparing Pope … No letter with an Envelope Could give him more Delight.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, III. 351. Our hero was tearing off the envelope.
1839. Sir R. Hill, in G. B. Hill, Life (1880), I. 346. The little bags called envelopes.
1874. Burnand, My Time, xxvii. 250. He quickly opened the envelope to see if the enclosed fee was in notes or a cheque.
3. In physical science often used in general sense; also spec. in Bot. the calyx or the corolla, or both taken together; in Astron. the nebulous covering of the head of a comet, the coma.
1830. R. Knox, Béclard’s Anat., 234. The envelopes of the muscles, or the enveloping aponeuroses … furnish … insertions to muscular fibres.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 99. Stamens single, without any floral envelope.
1834. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sc., xxxvi. (1849), 404. The luminous envelope was of a decided yellow.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys., 519. A general contraction of the mantle or muscular envelope.
1870. Hooker, Stud. Flora, 14. Papaveraceæ … envelopes and stamens very caducous.
4. Fortification. (See quot.)
1707. in Glossogr. Angl. Nova.
1715. Kersey, Envelope, In fortification, a Work of Earth rais’d either in the Ditch of a Place, or beyond it.
1853. Stocqueler, Mil. Encycl., Envelope, in fortification, a work of earth, sometimes in form of a single parapet, and at others like a small rampart.
5. Math. The locus of the ultimate intersections of consecutive curves (or surfaces) in a ‘family’ or system of curves (or surfaces).
1871. Todhunter, Diff. Calc., xxv. (1875), 359. The locus of the ultimate intersections of a series of curves is called the envelop of the series of curves.
1873. Williamson, Diff. Calc., xv. 250. The envelope of the system … is touched by every curve of the system.
Hence Envelope v. colloq. to put (a letter) in an envelope.
1857. De Morgan, in Graves, Life Sir W. R. Hamilton, III. (1889), 519. You write letters as hens lay eggs, and that Lady Hamilton finds them, envelopes them, puts them before you [etc.]
