chrysalism

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

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.

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 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.

The silence was awful, and moreover much like the calm which precedes the storm; no sooner had the servants withdrawn than Mrs.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 […]

The sheltered tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm.

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

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.