to completely surround or swallow up something, often suddenly and totally.
From 'en-' (prefix meaning 'to cause to be') plus 'gulf,' which comes from Italian 'golfo' and Greek 'kolpos,' originally meaning a large body of water that swallows coastline.
When you imagine something being 'engulfed,' it's not just surrounded—it's consumed, like the ocean swallowing a ship in one gulp, which is why the word has that sense of something disappearing completely into something larger.
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