chrysalis
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin chrysalis, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Ancient Greek χρυσαλλίς (khrusallís), from χρυσός (khrusós, “gold”), because of the color of some of them.
Pronunciation
Noun
chrysalis (plural chrysalises or chrysalides)
- The pupa of a butterfly or moth, enclosed inside a cocoon, in which metamorphosis takes place
- 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House Is Built, Chapter VII, Section viii
- Fanny was afraid. She was like an insect new-hatched from its chrysalis, naked and unprotected in a dawn she could not face.
- 1929, M. Barnard Eldershaw, A House Is Built, Chapter VII, Section viii
- The cocoon itself.
- (figurative) A strong constraint.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 1, in The Celebrity:
- However, with the dainty volume my quondam friend sprang into fame. At the same time he cast off the chrysalis of a commonplace existence.
Translations
the pupa of a butterfly or moth
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