cocooning

****************************************************************
Calling all new word spotters! Now there's a forum for your
lexical discoveries--join Merriam-Webster Unabridged today! 
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/unabridged_sub.pl?refr=U_wod
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for June 24 is:

cocooning   \kuh-KOON-ing\   noun 
     : the practice of spending leisure time at home in preference to going out 

Example sentence: 
     "The current trend toward cocooning has been very good for our business," 
noted the owner of Marvin's Hot Tubs at a recent home show.

Did you know?
     It's safe to begin our history of "cocooning" with "cocoon," the case 
protecting an insect pupa. We borrowed that noun from French over 300 years 
ago; the French "cocon" in turn comes from an Occitan word meaning "shell." The 
verb "cocoon," meaning "to wrap or envelop as if in a cocoon," entered English 
in 1881 when Mark Twain wrote, "We ... cocooned ourselves in the proper red 
blankets." Metaphorical extensions of the verb, to suggest either the condition 
of being entrapped ("cocooned in restrictions") or of being in a safe and 
protected place ("cocooned against outside forces"), began to appear in the 
20th century. The latter connotation led to "cocooning," a 1980s coinage 
generally attributed to marketing consultant and trend-spotter Faith Popcorn.