encase
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
- encasement noun
Etymology
Origin of encase
Explanation
To encase something is to cover it or close it off, as if you were putting it in a shell, a coating, or a box. Some cheesemakers encase each wheel of cheese in wax. When you're packing your lunch, you might encase a brownie in wax paper, or encase a sandwich in a plastic container. A hug can encase you in warmth and affection, and the dark can even seem to encase you on a moonless night in the country. Encase combines the prefix en-, "make" or "put in," and case, "container" or "receptacle," from the Latin root capsa, "box."
Vocabulary lists containing encase
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Enormous machines wrapped layers of carbon around 40-foot-long cylinders, producing carbon tubes that can encase burning rocket fuel.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 11, 2026
Floating on a wall just inside a heavy door on Ninth Avenue, 14 resin sculptures of varying sizes and delicate, glowing colors encase ephemera from across the ages.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 19, 2023
However, the quantum noise that lurks inside the vacuum tubes that encase LIGO's laser beams can alter the timing of the photons in the beams by minutely small amounts.
From Science Daily • Oct. 23, 2023
As The Times reported in May on the growing number of assaults against Metro bus drivers, the agency is attempting to curtail such incidents by installing floor-to-ceiling plastic walls that fully encase the driver.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 22, 2023
"I want you," he said, "to encase this cross completely, in thin gold plates."
From The Spanish Jade by Hyde, William Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
