Definition of COCOON

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Verb

Since at least 1679, English speakers have been using the noun "cocoon" for the silky covering that surrounds a caterpillar or other insect larva in the pupa stage of metamorphosis. The word came into English from French, which in turn borrowed it from an Occitan term for "eggshell." Linguists believe the Occitan term was probably born of the Latin coccum, a noun that has been translated as "kermes," the dried bodies of some insects that can be found on certain trees. The verb "cocoon" has been with us since at least 1881.

Examples of cocoon in a Sentence

Noun

The child was wrapped in a cocoon of blankets. The movie star was surrounded by a protective cocoon of bodyguards.

Verb

Americans are spending more time cocooning at home in recent years. cocooned in puffy down parkas, we braved the bitter cold as best we could

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Just as the caterpillar is trapped in the darkness of its cocoon before emerging as a butterfly, destruction will always precede growth. — Ebonee Davis, Harper's BAZAAR, "Model Ebonee Davis on How Suffering Leads to Power," 3 Nov. 2017 Tis the season for brewing your favorite mug of tea, then wrapping yourself in a cozy cocoon on the couch while watching A Miracle on 34th Street. — Lauren Smith, Country Living, "Everyone on Amazon Is Obsessed With This Tea Bag Organizer," 6 Dec. 2016 The Elder Statesman Men’s Cashmere Sweater Donning The Elder Statesman cashmere is like being enveloped inside a cozy personal cocoon. — Lane Florsheim, WSJ, "Online Staff Writer Lane Florsheim’s Holiday Gift Guide: Color Their World," 3 Dec. 2018 Mave’s left arm ended in a cocoon of stark white gauze, a bandage covered the top of her head, and her 10 toes and five fingers were painted bright pink. — Nick Turse, Teen Vogue, "The Democratic Republic of Congo Has Humanitarian Crises Leaving Millions of Children In Danger," 14 Nov. 2018 Like the caterpillar who spins itself into a silky cocoon and turns into a butterfly, so, too, must the Boston Yeti continue to spin into new and beautiful things. — Steve Annear, BostonGlobe.com, "Boston Yeti started as a winter stunt. Now, it’s something of a civic duty," 14 Mar. 2018 This is the white nationalist right emerging from its media cocoon and striding onto the world stage, running the most powerful country in the world. — David Roberts, Vox, "The caravan “invasion” and America’s epistemic crisis," 2 Nov. 2018 Endless ink has been spilled moralizing the withdrawal into these digital cocoons. — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, "Driving Without a Smartphone," 10 July 2018 The newborn larvae will immediately inject a toxin into the spider that hijacks its nervous system, forcing it to construct a uniquely wasp-worthy web on which the larva will suspend a cocoon. — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian, "Five Real Life Wasp Superpowers Not in Ant-Man and the Wasp," 22 Mar. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

So imagine my surprise at stepping into a diminutive entry cocooned in homey Georgian wood paneling, a humorously tiny portrait of George Washington presiding. — Amy Merrick, WSJ, "The Cultish Home That Draws Fans of Americana Design," 3 Aug. 2018 The place should find avid fans among solitary bibliophiles, cocooning couples, design-magazine devotees and former publishing barons nostalgic for the heyday of print. — Seth Sherwood, New York Times, "In Bangkok, an Intimate Hotel With an Inky Past," 14 Apr. 2018 Small shelters, cocooned in between peaks and glaciers, have served as base camps, safe havens and warm-up spots for adventurous climbers and skiers for decades. — Devin Kelly, Anchorage Daily News, "A new hut with dramatic views rose up this summer in Alaska’s Hatcher Pass backcountry," 8 July 2018 One of them is a park and classroom cluster as part of a new campus for the Singapore Institute of Technology that will cocoon campus buildings in an urban forest. — Ken Wells, WSJ, "More Buildings Are Going Green. Literally.," 26 June 2018 The time for evaluations is just about done and over the coming days teams will begin to further cocoon themselves in an effort to safeguard their strategies. — Matt Velazquez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Besides pick, Bucks face other decisions on draft night," 18 June 2018 The quintet sprinkles hooks through the concise arrangements, then cocoons them in reverberation – tantalizing, blurred, just out of reach. — Greg Kot, chicagotribune.com, "Soft Science builds dreams amid chaos on 'Maps'," 8 June 2018 Courtney Barnett sings a lot of songs about cocooning with friends and just wanting to disappear. — Greg Kot, chicagotribune.com, "Courtney Barnett delivers modest songs, bold solos at Cultural Center," 22 May 2018 Its millions of players sit cocooned in their bedrooms, bathed in the glow of verdant pixels, creating new Earths. — Nathaniel Rich, The Atlantic, "The Novel That Asks, ‘What Went Wrong With Mankind?’," 11 May 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cocoon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.