push the envelope

noun

a flat paper container, as for a letter or thin package, usually having a gummed flap or other means of closure.

something that envelops; a wrapper, integument, or surrounding cover.

Biology. a surrounding or enclosing structure, as a corolla or an outer membrane.

Geometry. a curve or surface tangent to each member of a set of curves or surfaces.

Radio. (of a modulated carrier wave) a curve connecting the peaks of a graph of the instantaneous value of the electric or magnetic component of the carrier wave as a function of time.

the fabric structure enclosing the gasbag of an aerostat.

the gasbag itself.

Electronics. the airtight glass or metal housing of a vacuum tube.

the technical limits within which an aircraft or electronic system may be safely operated.

Idioms

10.

push the envelope, to stretch established limits, as in technological advance or social innovation.

00:10

Push the envelope is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. 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.

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

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Also, envelop.

Origin:
1700–10; < French enveloppe, derivative of envelopper to envelop

Can be confused: envelop, envelope.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To push the envelope

Collins

World English Dictionary

envelope (ˈɛnvəˌləʊp, ˈɒn-)

—n
1.	a flat covering of paper, usually rectangular in shape and with a flap that can be folded over and sealed, used to enclose a letter, etc
2.	any covering or wrapper
3.	biology any enclosing structure, such as a membrane, shell, or skin
4.	the bag enclosing the gas in a balloon
5.	maths a curve or surface that is tangent to each one of a group of curves or surfaces
6.	electronics the sealed glass or metal housing of a valve, electric light, etc
7.	telecomm the outer shape of a modulated wave, formed by the peaks of successive cycles of the carrier wave
8.	informal push the envelope to push the boundaries of what is possible

[C18: from French enveloppe, from envelopper to wrap around; see envelop; sense 8 from aeronautics jargon, referring to graphs of aircraft performance]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

envelope

1705, from Fr. enveloppe, a back-formation of envelopper "to envelop" (see envelop).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

envelope en·ve·lope (ěn'və-lōp', ŏn'-)
n.
An enclosing structure or cover, such as a membrane or the outer coat of a virus.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

push the envelope

Exceed the limits of what is normally done, be innovative, as in They are pushing the envelope in using only new fabrics for winter clothing. This idiom comes from aviation, the envelope alluding to the technical limits of a plane's performance, which, on a graph, appear as a rising slope as limits of speed and stress are approached and falls off when the capacity is exceeded and the pilot loses control; safety lies within these limits, or envelope, and exceeding them exposes pilot and plane to risk. [Slang; late 1960s]

Matching Quote

"Just as the mother's womb holds us for ten months not in preparation for itself but for the region to which we seem to be discharged when we are capable of drawing breath and surviving in the open, so in the span extending from infancy to old age we are ripening for another birth. Another beginning awaits us, another status. We cannot yet bear heaven's light except at intervals; look unfalteringly, then, to that decisive hour which is the body's last but not the soul's. All that lies about you look upon as the luggage in a posting station; you must push on. At your departure Nature strips you as bare as at your entry. You cannot carry out more than you brought in; indeed, you must lay down a good part of what you brought into life. The envelope of skin, which is your last covering, will be stripped off; the flesh and the blood which is diffused and courses through the whole of it will be stripped off; the bones and sinews which are the structural support of the shapeless and precarious mass will be stripped off. That day which you dread as the end is your birth into eternity."

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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