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chrysalis

[kris-uh-lis]

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noun, plural chrys·a·lis·es, chry·sal·i·des

[kri-sal-i-deez] .

the hard-shelled pupa of a moth or butterfly; an obtect pupa.

Origin:
1650–60; < Latin chrȳsalis < Greek chrȳsallís, equivalent to chrȳs- chrys- + -allis suffix, probably with diminutive value

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Chrysalis is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Example Sentences

With a fierce beating of wings, the butterfly has finally escaped her chrysalis and taken flight.

They have emerged from their clumsily confining, defensive chrysalis.

They were shaping a pilot, the hopeful chrysalis of a television show.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

chrysalis (ˈkrɪsəlɪs)

—n , pl chrysalises, chrysalides
1.	the obtect pupa of a moth or butterfly
2.	anything in the process of developing

[C17: from Latin chrӯsallis, from Greek khrusallis, from khrusos gold, of Semitic origin; compare Hebrew harūz gold]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

chrysalis

c.1600, from L. chrysallis, from Gk. khrysallis "golden colored," from khrysos "gold," of Sem. origin, + second element meaning something like "sheath."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Science Dictionary

chrysalis

(krĭs'ə-lĭs) Pronunciation Key

The pupa of certain kinds of insects, especially of moths and butterflies, that is inactive and enclosed in a firm case or cocoon from which the adult eventually emerges.
The case or cocoon of a chrysalis.

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Matching Quote

"Am I in love? ... If in love, where's the sweetheart? Is it the noble-hearted F___ or the giddy, young, black-eyed E___ who fills my thoughts? Do feeling and judgment go together? I feel the strong longing, but not the fixed attachment which belongs to the true love. The settled object is wanting. It is useless to attempt to cast myself free from the cords which a too warm imagination throws about me. The only cure is marriage. If that is not the specific I may as well despair of ever making even a respectable figure in life; ... I am almost wholly worthless.... With me too, believing as I do, or have, that it was a part of my patrimony to be gifted with more than the ordinary allotment of what is called "common sense." I must be in the chrysalis state, neither a boy nor a man; not in love and yet not whole of heart. Well I hope I shall be safely delivered soon, for if I am not, woe to the future!"

-Rutherford Birchard Hayes

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