emboss
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɪmˈbɒs/
ipa: /ɛm-/
ipa: /əmˈbɔs/
ipa: /ɛm-/
ipa: /əmˈbɑs/
ipa: /ɛm-/
rhymes: -ɒs
Forms: form: embosses
form: embossing
form: embossed
form: embossed
form: imboss
Etymology: 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”) (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”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewd- (“to hit, strike”)) + -er (suffix forming verbs). The English word is analysable as em- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + boss (“bump, lump, protuberance”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Senses: examples: text: 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; […]
ref: 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His First Week, or Birth of the World: […].] The Third Daie of the First Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 73:
text: His Cattel muſt of Rot and Murren die, / Botches and blaines muſt all his fleſh imboſs, / And all his people; […]
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1070–1071:
text: 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.
ref: 1814, Robert Southey, “Canto XXI”, in Roderick, the Last of the Goths, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], by James Ballantyne and Co. […], →OCLC, page 256:
glosses: To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
examples: text: [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.
ref: 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Fift Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 75:
text: 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.
ref: 1644 May 18 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 8 May 1644]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC, page 62:
text: 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 frequently appear imboſt upon the upper Superficies of the Regulus; and ſuch a raiſed Figure I have ſeen on a Maſs of Regulus made of Antimony vvithout Mars.
ref: 1676 January, [Robert] Boyle, “Experiments about the Superficial Figures of Fluids, especially Liquors Contiguous to Other Liquors, and Their Reflective Powers”, in John Lowthorp, Henry Jones, editors, The Philosophical Transactions and Collections, to the End of the Year 1720. Abridged, and Disposed under General Heads. […], 4th edition, London: […] J. and J. Knapton, […], published 1732, →OCLC, paragraph 22, page 535:
text: [T]he profusion of her sable tresses, which, each arranged in its own spiral of twisted curls, fell down upon as much of a snow-white neck and bosom as a simarre of the richest Persian silk, exhibiting flowers in their natural colours embossed upon a purple ground, permitted to be visible—all these constituted a combination of loveliness, which yielded not to the loveliest of the maidens who surrounded her.
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VIII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 146–147:
text: I was most struck with a picture, by Fabriana Gentile [i.e., Gentile da Fabriano], of the Adoration of the Magi, […] all the magnificence of the three kings, are represented with the vividness of the real thing: a gold sword hilt, for instance, or a pair of gold spurs, being actually embossed on the picture.
ref: 1858 June 17 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Florence—Continued”, in Passages from the French and Italian Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume II, London: Strahan & Co., […], published 1871, →OCLC, pages 44–45:
glosses: To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.
examples: text: [R]ich embroideries by rare Art emboſt: […]
ref: 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 Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 279:
text: 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 emboſs'd / Androgeos Death, and Off'rings to his Ghoſt.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, pages 362–363, lines 21–26:
text: 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; […]
ref: 1838, William H[ickling] Prescott, “Review of the Political and Intellectual Condition of the Spanish Arabs previous to the War of Granada”, in History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic. […], volume I, Boston, Mass.: American Stationers’ Company; John B. Russell, →OCLC, 1st part (1406–1492), page 279:
glosses: To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
examples: text: The papers weren’t official until the seal had been embossed on them.
text: [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 into love vvith ſilver plate curiouſly enchaſed and emboſſed: […]
ref: 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVII.] Of the Rich Precious Stones of Polycrates the Tyrant, and King Pyrrhus. The First Lappidaries or Cutters in Precious Stones. And who was the First that had a Case of Rings and Gems in Rome.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 602:
text: The veſt much envy'd on your native coaſt, / And regal robe vvith figur'd gold emboſt, / In happier hours my artful hand employ'd, / VVhen my lov'd Lord this bliſsful bovv'r enjoy'd: […]
ref: 1726, Homer, “Book XIX”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume IV, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 219, lines 292–295:
text: A ſquare and lofty obeliſk of braſs; the ſides vvere emboſſed vvith a variety of pictureſque and rural ſcenes: […]
ref: 1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter LIX, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume VI, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 171:
text: Oldfashioned merchants complained bitterly that a class of men who, thirty years before, had confined themselves to their proper functions, and had made a fair profit by embossing silver bowls and chargers, by setting jewels for fine ladies, and by selling pistoles and dollars to gentlemen setting out for the Continent, had become the treasurers, and were fast becoming the masters, of the whole City.
ref: 1851, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XX, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume IV, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 490:
glosses: To decorate or mark (something) with a design or symbol in relief.
examples: text: I wonne her with a gyrdle of gelt, / Emboſt with buegle about the belt.
ref: 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 4, verso:
text: I fed on ſcarlet hips and ſtoney havvs, / Or bluſhing crabs, or berries that imboſs / The bramble, black as jet, or ſloes auſtere.
ref: 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 7:
text: 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 door, […]
ref: 1785, William Cowper, “Book V. The Winter Morning Walk.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 203:
text: We, Greville, are happy in these parks and forests: we were happy in my close winter-walk of box and laurustinus and mezereon. In our earlier days did we not emboss our bosoms with the crocusses, and shake them almost unto shedding with our transports!
ref: 1824, Walter Savage Landor, “Conversation II. Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney.”, in Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, volume I, London: […] Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, pages 18–19:
glosses: To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
examples: text: [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, and in a manner forced themſelves on the vievv of common ſhort-ſighted benevolence.
ref: 1797, Edmund Burke, “Letter III.”, in A Third Letter to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: […] F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […]; sold also by J[ohn] Hatchard, […], →OCLC, page 21:
text: [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 the month.
ref: 2021 March 7, David Hytner, “Manchester United catch City cold as Fernandes and Shaw end winning run”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 06 Apr 2023:
glosses: To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
examples: text: 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 and harts of the yoong princes, […]
ref: 1587 January, Raphael Holinshed, “Henrie the Second, the Second Sonne of Geffrey Plantagenet”, in The Third Volume of Chronicles, Beginning at Duke William the Norman, Commonlie Called the Conqueror; […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] [Henry Denham] […] at the expenses of Iohn Harison, George Bishop, Rafe Newberie, Henrie Denham, and Thomas Woodcocke, →OCLC, page 94, column 2:
glosses: To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
Derived terms: word: embossable
word: embossed
word: embosser
word: embossing
word: embossman
word: embossment
word: embossograph
word: embosture
word: imbosture
word: nanoemboss