Recontaining

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Holding or enclosing something once more, as when a container is filled or a substance is held anew
2. Having the capacity to hold or include material a second time over the course of a process
3. Describing something that holds within itself a repeated quantity or amount of material

Etymology: "Recontaining" is the present participle of "recontain," a verb formed in English by attaching the prefix "re-" to "contain." The prefix "re-" comes from Latin, where it meant "back" or "again," and the verb it attaches to traces back through Old French "contenir" to Latin "continēre," meaning "to hold together" or "to hold in," built from "con-" ("together") and "tenēre" ("to hold"). English took "contain" from Old French in the Middle English period, when forms like "conteinen" were in use, and it has carried the sense of holding within limits ever since. Because "re-" can mean "again" as well as "back," "recontain" means to contain once more, or to hold back again what has been released. The combination is fully transparent: a speaker who knows "contain" and "re-" can decode it without any special training, which is typical of newer English verbs built this way.