cocoon
verb/kəˈkuːn/
/kəˈkuːn/
[usually passive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they cocoon | /kəˈkuːn/ /kəˈkuːn/ |
| he / she / it cocoons | /kəˈkuːnz/ /kəˈkuːnz/ |
| past simple cocooned | /kəˈkuːnd/ /kəˈkuːnd/ |
| past participle cocooned | /kəˈkuːnd/ /kəˈkuːnd/ |
| -ing form cocooning | /kəˈkuːnɪŋ/ /kəˈkuːnɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] to protect somebody/something by surrounding them or it completely with something
- (be) cocooned (in something) We were warm and safe, cocooned in our sleeping bags.
- (be) cocooned from something I had a sheltered childhood, cocooned from the world by money and love.
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- [intransitive] (North American English) to spend more of your free time at home and less time going out and doing things with other people
- After spending too much over the holidays, many will simply cocoon at home.
Word Originlate 17th cent.: from French cocon, from medieval Provençal coucoun ‘eggshell, cocoon’, diminutive of coca ‘shell’. The verb dates from the mid 19th cent.
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cocoon