chrysalism

English

Etymology

From chrysalis (“butterfly or moth pupa”) +‎ -ism. The thunderstorm sense was coined by Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows creator John Koenig.

Noun

chrysalism (uncountable)

1. (dated, rare) A state of transition or development. [from 1828]
   • 1828, Theodore Edward Hook, Cousin William, page 204:

     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 the divine fair one to her home in the costume which had so captivated my hero, […]

   • 1947, A. F. Price, The Jewel of Transcendental Wisdom: (Chan Kang Ching), page 11:

     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, Miles Franklin, The End of My Career, published 1984, page 17:

     I was at that stage of chrysalism when boys dream of becoming bushrangers, engine drivers, or champion pugilists.

2. (dated, rare) A state of dormancy or rest. [from 1830]
   • 1830 April, “North American Forest Scenes”, in Museum of Foreign Literature and Science, page 329:

     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 pleasure was opened to him, he put on his skates, and seemed to have found a new sense; he had got wings and had left the state of chrysalism.

   • 1836, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Devereux, page 232:

     The silence was awful, and moreover much like the calm which precedes the storm; no sooner had the servants withdrawn than Mrs.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 ingratitude of children, the folly of girls, and the merits of young Felton of Haversfield […]

   • 1841, John Wilson Crocker, letter published in The Croker Papers The Correspondence and Diaries of the Late Right Honourable John Wilson Croker (1884), page 195:

     The very sight of your writing, my dear Sir, does me good. Here I am still in my armed chair, having been during the last fourteen weeks three times out of the house–once to call at Dorchester House, once to dine with Sir Francis Burdett, and once on unavoidable business, all of which days were mild and moist. I have by reducing myself to this state of chrysalism, quite escaped cough, and hope now to act butterfly on the large scale.

3. (neologism, rare) The sheltered tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm. [from 2015]
   • 2015, Johnny Close, Eco-Lonely, page 113:

     Chrysalism overcame me, the feeling of amniotic tranquility you get when experiencing a thunderstorm from indoors.

   • 2020, James Qualls, A Resolution of Dreams, page 160:

     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.

   • 2021, Nishita Patil, Meet Yourself, page 12:

     But the pattering of the rain against the glass door of the balcony was so intense and unsettling that for a brief moment, I experienced chrysalism.