From en- + gulf.

• IPA: /ɪŋˈɡʌlf/

engulf (engulfs, present participle engulfing; simple past and past participle engulfed)

1. (transitive) To overwhelm.

   Desperation engulfed her after her daughter's death.

   • 1934, The Modern Monthly, volume 8, page 308:

     The blank spaces of Mallarmé, the silence of Maesterlinck, the inaniloquous repetitive babblings of Gertrude Stein are the abyss which threatens to engulf creative effort if it continues in this direction.

2. (transitive) To surround; to cover; to submerge.

   Only Noah and his family survived when the Flood engulfed the world.

3. (transitive) To cast into a gulf.

• French: submerger
• German: überwältigen
• Italian: sopraffare, travolgere
• Portuguese: engolir, engolfar
• Russian: охва́тывать

• French: engloutir, engouffrer
• German: verschlingen
• Italian: sommergere, circondare
• Portuguese: cobrir
• Russian: поглоща́ть