[swad.dle] vt swad.dled ; swad.dling [ME swadelen, swathelen, prob. alter. of swedelen, swethelen, fr. swethel swaddling band, fr. OE; akin to OE swathian to swathe] (14c) 1 a: to wrap (an infant) with swaddling clothes b: envelop, swathe "swaddled ourselves in sleeping bags"
2: restrain, restrict "marriage ... swaddled him in a domesticity he came to loathe --Nina Auerbach"