envelope

Meanings

Plural: envelopes

Noun

• a flat (usually rectangular) container for a letter, thin package, etc.
• any wrapper or covering
• a curve that is tangent to each of a family of curves
• a natural covering (as by a fluid)
  • "the spacecraft detected an envelope of gas around the comet"
• the maximum operating capability of a system (especially an aircraft)
  • "test pilots try to push the envelope"
• the bag containing the gas in a balloon
• A paper or cardboard wrapper used to enclose small, flat items, especially letters, for mailing.
• Something that envelops; a wrapping.
• A bag containing the lifting gas of a balloon or airship; fabric that encloses the gas-bags of an airship.
• A mathematical curve, surface, or higher-dimensional object that is the tangent to a given family of lines, curves, surfaces, or higher-dimensional objects.
• A curve that bounds another curve or set of curves, as the modulation envelope of an amplitude-modulated carrier wave in electronics.
• The shape of a sound, which may be controlled by a synthesizer or sampler.
• The information used for routing a message that is transmitted with the message but not part of its contents.
• An enclosing structure or cover, such as a membrane; a space between two membranes
• The set of limitations within which a technological system can perform safely and effectively.
• The nebulous covering of the head or nucleus of a comet; a coma.
• An earthwork in the form of a single parapet or a small rampart, sometimes raised in the ditch and sometimes beyond it.

Verb

• To put (something) in an envelope.
• Archaic form of envelop.

Synonyms

gasbag, header, wrapper

Related Words

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