emboss
To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
Noun
- Synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”).
- In this [the piazza of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City] is a fountaine out of which gushes a river rather than a streeme, which ascending a good height breakes upon a round embosse of marble into millions of...
Synonyms: boss
Origin
PIE word *h₁én The verb is derived from Late Middle English embossen, embosen, embocen (“to be bloated; to bulge; to cause to bulge; to ornament in relief, emboss”) [and other forms], from Old French embocer (modern French embosser), from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boce (“swelling”) + -er (suffix forming verbs); boce (“swelling”) is derived from Vulgar Latin *bottia (“a bump”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *bautan (“to beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat; to bump, knock; to push”). The English word is analysable as em- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + boss (“bump, lump, protuberance”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Forms
Verb Entry 2
- To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
- VVhen God, vvhoſe vvords more in a moment can, / Then in an Age the proudeſt ſtrength of Man, / Had ſeuered the Floods, leuell'd the Fields, / Embas't the Valleys, and emboſt the Hils; […] - 1608, [Guillaume de...
- His Cattel muſt of Rot and Murren die, / Botches and blaines muſt all his fleſh imboſs, / And all his people; […] - 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by...
- An oak grew near, and with its ample boughs / O'ercanopied the spring; its fretted roots / Emboss'd the bank, and on their tufted bark / Grew plants which love the moisture and the shade. - 1814, Robert Southey, “Canto...
- To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.
- [S]o glorious vvas her Throne, / In vvhich himſelfe to ſit great Neptune had been knovvn; / […] / No Fiſh in this vvide vvaſte but vvith exceeding coſt / VVas there in Antique vvorke moſt curiouſly imboſt. - 1612,...
- The house opposite my lodging had been formerly a Palace of the King's, the outside was totaly cover'd with fleurs de lyes, emboss'd out of yᵉ stone. - 1644 May 17 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 8...
- This may alſo be obſerv'd in the beſt ſort of vvhat the Chymiſts call Regulus Martis Stellatus, vvhere the Figure of a Star, or a Figure ſomevvhat like that of the Decoction of the Soot lately mentioned, vvill...
- To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
- [R]ich embroideries by rare Art emboſt: […] - 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His Second Weeke, […]. Adam. […].] The Handi-crafts. The IIII. Part of the I. Day of the II. Week.”, in Josuah...
- To the Cumæan Coaſt at length he came; / And, here alighting, built this coſtly Frame. / Inſcrib'd to Phœbus, here he hung on high / The ſteerage of his VVings, that cut the Sky: / Then o're the lofty Gate his Art...
- Most of its [the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba's] ancient glories have indeed long since departed. The rich bronze which embossed its gates, the myriads of lamps which illuminated its aisles, have disappeared; […] - 1838,...
- To decorate or mark (something) with a design or symbol in relief.
- The papers weren’t official until the seal had been embossed on them.
- The title was embossed in gold lettering on the cover.
- [T]he ſaid victorie of Pompeius vvhich he atchieved over K[ing] Mithridates, ſet mens teeth at Rome a vvatering after pearls and pretious ſtones; like as the conqueſts obtained by L. Scipio and Cn. Manlius, brought them...
- To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
- I wonne her with a gyrdle of gelt, / Emboſt with buegle about the belt. - 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 4, verso:
- I fed on ſcarlet hips and ſtoney havvs, / Or bluſhing crabs, or berries that imboſs / The bramble, black as jet, or ſloes auſtere. - 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […]...
- And bloated ſpider, till the pamper'd peſt / Is made familiar, vvatches his approach, / Comes at his call and ſerves him for a friend— / To vvear out time in numb'ring to and fro / The ſtuds that thick emboſs his iron...
- To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
- [T]he triumph of general fraternity vvas but the most ſignalized by the total vvant of particular claims in that caſe; and by poſtponing all ſuch claims, in a caſe vvhere they really exiſted, vvhere they ſtood emboſſed,...
- [Luke] Shaw's goal embossed his latest man-of-the-match performance and it came in front of Gareth Southgate, although the England manager has surely decided already to recall him for the internationals at the end of...
- To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
- All this diſſention and ſtrife was kindled (no doubt) by the meanes of certeine ſowers of diſcord, ſycophants, paraſits, flatterers, clawbacks, & pickeſhanks, […] thinking by their emboſſed ſpeech to tickle the eares...
Forms
Derived
embossable embossed embosser embossing embossman embossment embossograph embosture imbosture nanoemboss
Verb intransitive, obsolete
- Of a hunted animal: to take shelter in a forest or wood.
- So vertue giv'n for loſt, / Depreſt, and overthrovvn, as ſeem'd, / Like that ſelf-begott'n bird / In the Arabian woods emboſt, […] - 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV...
- An Elephant from one of thoſe / Tvvo mighty Armies is broke looſe, / […] / Look quickly, leſt the Sight of us / Should cauſe the ſtartled Beaſt t’imboſs. - a. 1681 (date written), Samuel Butler, “The Elephant in the...
- To drive (a hunted animal) to exhaustion by chasing it; to exhaust; hence, to make (a hunted animal) foam at the mouth due to exhaustion from being chased.
- Thus stode I in the frytthy forest of Galtres, / Ensowkid with sylt of the myry mose, / Where hartis belluyng, embosyd with distres, / Ran on the raunge so longe, […] - 1523, John Skelton, “A Ryght Delectable Tratyse...
- And if hee [a hart] ſhould runne into any of thoſe two windes, it would quickly enter his throate when he is emboſt and beginneth to be ſpent, & would drie his throat & his tong ſore, and woud altarand chafe him much...
- In her right hand a firebrand ſhee did toſſe / About her head, ſtill roming here and there; / As a diſmayed Deare in chace emboſt, / Forgetfull of his ſafety, hath his right vvay loſt. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III,...
- To cause (an animal's body, a person's mouth, etc.) to be covered with foam.
- I suppose (except I be moche deceiued) thou seest me nat stare with myn eyen, or my mouthe imbosed, or the colour of my face chaunged, or any other deformitie in my persone or gesture, or that my wordes be swyfte, or my...
- For, jaded now, and spent with toil, / Embossed with foam, and dark with soil, / While every gasp with sobs he drew, / The labouring stag strained full in view. - 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto I. The Chase.”, in The Lady...
- To cause (someone, their heart or soul, etc.) to become extremely fatigued; to exhaust.
- But ſee, ah ſee, I ſee hovv Loue caſts off Deſire his Hound, / A fell fleet Dogge, that hunts my Heart by parſee each-vvheare found. / Svveet Cynthea rate the eger Curre, and ſo thy foe preuent, / For, loe, a farre my...
- [W]e haue almoſt imboſt him, you ſhall ſee his fall to night; for indeede he is not for your Lordſhippes reſpect. - c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William...
- Great God! my Time's but ſhort, and long my vvay, / My heart hath loſt her Path, and gone aſtray, / My ſpirit's faint, and fraile, my ſoule's imboſt, / If thou helpe not, I am for ever loſt; […] - 1624, Fra[ncis]...
- Of a person: to foam at the mouth; also (figurative), to be furious, to rage.
Origin
From Middle English embosen, embose, enbose (“of game: to become exhausted from hunting”), possibly from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + Old French bos, bois (“woodland, woods”) (modern French bois) (from Late Latin boscus, Medieval Latin boscus (“woodlands, woods”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *busk (“bush, thicket”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”)). Doublet of imbosk (“to conceal or hide (not necessarily in a forest or wood)”). Sense 2 (“to make (a hunted animal) foam at the mouth”) is probably influenced by emboss (“to decorate (something) with bosses”; etymology 1, verb sense 5), likening the flecks of foam to decorative bosses.
Forms
Verb obsolete, transitive
- To enclose or suit (a person) in armour.
- A knight her mett in mighty armes emboſt, […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 24, page 39:
- To enclose or surround (someone or something).
- The knight his thrillant ſpeare again aſſayd / In his bras-plated body to emboſſe, […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza...
- None of them raſhly durſt to her approch, / Ne in ſo glorious ſpoile themſelues emboſſe, / Her ſuccourd eke the Champion of the bloody Croſſe. - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […],...
- And there all night himſelfe in anguiſh toſt, / Vovving, that neuer he in bed againe / His limbes vvould reſt, ne lig in eaſe emboſt, / Till that his Ladies ſight he more attaine, / Or vnderſtand, that ſhe in ſafetie...
Origin
Possibly: * from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boss (“(small) cask; leather bottle for holding wine”) (Scotland, obsolete); or * borrowed from Spanish embozarse, from embozar (“to cloak, hide; to turn up; to wrap up”) + se (“oneself; yourself; himself; herself; etc.”). Embozar is derived from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + bozo (“mouth; muzzle; halter for horses”) (from Medieval Latin *buccēus (“belonging or relating to the mouth”), from Latin bucca (“mouth”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Germanic *puhô (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bʰew- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”)) + -ar (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). The word was possibly coined by the English poet Edmund Spenser (1552 or 1553 – 1599) in his work The Faerie Queene (1590–1596): see the quotations.