Word: embrace Part of Speech: verb Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English embracen (“to clasp in one's arms, embrace; to reach out eagerly for, welcome; to enfold, entwine; to ensnare, entangle; to twist, wrap around; to gird, put on; to lace; to be in or put into bonds; to put a shield on the arm; to grasp (a shield or spear); to acquire, take hold of; to receive; to undertake; to affect, influence; to incite; to unlawfully influence a jury; to surround; to conceal, cover; to shelter; to protect; to comfort; to comprehend, understand”) [and other forms], from Old French embracer, embracier (“to kiss”) (modern French embrasser (“to kiss; (dated) to embrace, hug”)), from Late Latin *imbracchiāre, from in- (prefix meaning ‘in, inside, within’)) + bracchium (“arm”). The English word is analysable as em- + brace. The noun is derived from the verb. Pronunciation: /ɛmˈbɹes/, /ɛmˈbɹeɪs/, /ɪmˈbɹeɪs/ 1. To clasp (someone or each other) in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug. Labels: transitive Example: There was no faynting faith in that Dogge, which when his Master by a mischaunce in hunting stumbled and fell toppling downe a deepe dytche beyng vnable to recouer of himselfe, the Dogge signifying his masters mishappe, reskue came, and he was hayled up by a rope, whom the Dogge seeying almost drawne up to the edge of the dytche, cheerefully saluted, leaping and skipping vpon his master as though he would haue imbraced hym, beying glad of his presence, whose longer absence he was lothe to lacke. Example: I will imbrace him with a ſouldiour's arme, / That he ſhall ſhrinke vnder my curteſie, […] 2. To seize (something) eagerly or with alacrity; to accept or take up with cordiality; to welcome. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: I wholeheartedly embrace the new legislation. Example: The louer refused of his loue imbraceth death. [poem title] 3. To submit to; to undergo. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: What I haue done my ſafety vrg'd me to: / And I embrace this fortune patiently, / Since not to be auoided it fals on me. Example: Faced with the most significant public health crisis in a century, the population has largely embraced the strict but essential government instructions on social distancing that have been carefully designed to protect lives and to curb the spread of COVID-19. 4. To encircle; to enclose, to encompass. Labels: also, figuratively, transitive Example: Low at his foot a ſpacious Plain is plac't, / Between the Mountain and the Stream embrac't: / Which ſhade and ſhelter from the Hill derives, / While the kind River Wealth and Beauty gives; […] Example: But it was not this that conveyed the size of the steppe so much as the multiplicity of these nomadic encampments, cropping up wherever the eye rested, yet invariably separate by a mile or two from their neighbours. There were hundreds of them, and the sight, therefore, seemed to embrace hundreds of miles. 5. To enfold, to include (ideas, principles, etc.); to encompass. Labels: figuratively, transitive Example: Natural philosophy embraces many sciences. Example: Not that my ſong, in ſuch a ſcanty ſpace, / So large a Subject fully can embrace: […] 6. To fasten on, as armour. Labels: obsolete, rare, transitive Example: VVho ſeeing him from far ſo fierce to pricke, / His warlike armes about him gan embrace, / And in the reſt his ready ſpeare did ſticke; […] 7. To accept (someone) as a friend; to accept (someone's) help gladly. Labels: figuratively, obsolete, transitive Example: He bears himſelfe more proudlier, / Euen to my perſon, then I thought he would / When firſt I did embrace him. 8. To attempt to influence (a court, jury, etc.) corruptly; to practise embracery. Labels: figuratively, obsolete, transitive Example: The puniſhment for the perſon embracing is by fine and impriſonment; and, for the juror ſo embraced, if it be by taking money, the puniſhment is (by divers ſtatutes of the reign of Edward III) perpetual infamy, impriſonment for a year, and forfeiture of the tenfold value.