ensconce

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 4, 2024 is: ensconce \in-SKAHNSS\ verb Someone or something ensconced is firmly placed or hidden. Ensconce can be a synonym of [shelter](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shelter) and [conceal](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conceal), or of [establish](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/establish) and [settle](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/settle). // The sculpture is safely ensconced behind glass. // He ensconced himself in the library's back room for the afternoon. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ensconce) Examples: "Portraying the autocratic chancellor of an unnamed Central European country ... is Kate Winslet, whose increasingly delusional strongwoman is also a germaphobe ensconced in a luxury hotel that she’s turned into her personal palace." — Andy Meek, BGR.com, 4 Mar. 2024 Did you know? You might think of a [sconce](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sconce) (the word that when combined with the prefix [en-](https://bit.ly/46CldqM) forms ensconce) as a type of candleholder or lamp, but the word [can also refer](https://bit.ly/3SJpxii) to a defensive fortification, usually one made of earth. Originally, then, a person who was ensconced was enclosed in or concealed by such a structure, out of harm's way. One of the earliest writers to apply the verb ensconce with the general sense of "hide" was [William Shakespeare](https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Shakespeare). In [The Merry Wives of Windsor](https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Merry-Wives-of-Windsor) the character Falstaff, hoping to avoid detection when he is surprised during an amorous moment with Mrs. Ford, says "She shall not see me; I will ensconce me behind the [arras](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arras)."