envelopes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of envelope.

   He sorted the bills from the personal envelopes before opening anything.

   The office ordered a thousand padded envelopes for the spring mailing.

   Note

   The plural covers every meaning of the singular, not only stationery. Balloons and airships have envelopes that hold their lifting gas, and mathematicians draw the envelopes of a family of curves. In electronics there are modulation envelopes, and synthesizer players shape the envelopes of their sounds. The spelling simply adds -s to the silent final e.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of envelope.

   The mail house folds, envelopes and seals two thousand letters an hour.

   Our office manager envelopes the invoices herself to make sure none are missed.

   Note

   Two verbs share this form. One is the rare "put into an envelope" (she envelopes each invitation by hand). The other is an archaic spelling of envelop, "surround." Present-day writing that means "surround" uses envelops, as in the mist envelops the harbor. Used that way, envelopes reads as old-fashioned or as a slip. Keep this spelling for the mailing verb or for the plural noun.

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