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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

enfold en · VERB

Etymology

Alteration of earlier infold, from Middle English infolden, equivalent to en- + fold.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To envelop and wrap up something.
    • In words, like weeds, I’ll wrap me o’er, ⁠Like coarsest clothes against the cold: ⁠But that large grief which these enfold Is given in outline and no more. 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto V”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC:
  2. (transitive) To clasp with the arms; embrace.
    • Prais’d be the fathomless universe, / For life and joy, and for objects and knowledge curious, / And for love, sweet love—but praise! praise! praise! / For the sure-enwinding arms of cool-enfolding death. 1865, Walt Whitman, “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d”, in Sequel to Drum-Taps: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d and other poems:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
enfolded Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
enfolded Tense=Past lexicographic
enfolds Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
enfolding Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Deriveds

unenfolded · enfoldment · enfoldedly · enfolder · enfoldingly

Synonyms

enwrap · lap

Translations (6)

mi kōpaki (to fold something around, to envelop) · cs obklopit (to fold something around, to envelop) · cs zabalit (to fold something around, to envelop) · bg увивам (to fold something around, to envelop) · cs obejmout (to embrace) · cs zahalit (to fold something around, to envelop)