chrysalism

Noun

chrysalism (uncountable)

1. (dated, rare) A state of transition or development.
   • Mrs. Fuggleston, however, was not to be caught so easily: the night was rainy– and, long before Mr. Gervaise Skinner reached the green-room, the public vehicle of Taunton, which during the last few years, had ripened from the chrysalism of a sedan-chair into the gayer beauties of a fly, had borne...1828, Theodore Edward Hook, Cousin William, page 204
   • The world, however perfected it may become by means of utilitarian science, however utopian it may be made by human effort, can never be more, at best, than a state of chrysalism, preparatory to the incomparably greater state of Nirvāna.1947, A. F. Price, The Jewel of Transcendental Wisdom: (Chan Kang Ching), page 11
2. (dated, rare) A state of dormancy or rest.
   • Since Mr. Head's arrival in the woods, the weather had been uncertain; the snow was slushy, and walking far impracticable without the aid of snow-shoes, of which he had a horror; but on the 6th of March the world assumed another aspect, the snow clothed in glass, and the bay was frozen. A new...1830 April, “North American Forest Scenes”, in Museum of Foreign Literature and Science, page 329
   • The silence was awful, and moreover much like the calm which precedes the storm; no sooner had the servants withdrawn than Mrs. Meadows, bursting from the chrysalism of taciturnity into the bright glow of volubility , started the agreeable topics of filial disobedience, maternal sorrows, the...1836, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Devereux, page 232
3. (neologism, rare) A feeling of sheltered tranquility that comes from being indoors during a thunderstorm.
   • Chrysalism overcame me, the feeling of amniotic tranquility you get when experiencing a thunderstorm from indoors.2015, Johnny Close, Eco-Lonely, page 113
   • The cavern was large, dark, and comfortable in the sense of a spring thunderstorm rolling above. Chrysalism, the amniotic tranquility of being indoors and safe; located a mile underground.2020, James Qualls, A Resolution of Dreams, page 160