emboss
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: derivation
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”) + -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.
Base: boss
Affixes: em-
Inflected forms:
form: embosses
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: embossing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: embossed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: embossed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: imboss
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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; […]
His Cattel muſt of Rot and Murren die, / Botches and blaines muſt all his fleſh imboſs, / And all his people; […]
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.
gloss: To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [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.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
gloss: To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [R]ich embroideries by rare Art emboſt: […]
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.
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; […]
gloss: To decorate or mark (something) with a design or symbol in relief.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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 into love vvith ſilver plate curiouſly enchaſed and emboſſed: […]
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: […]
A ſquare and lofty obeliſk of braſs; the ſides vvere emboſſed vvith a variety of pictureſque and rural ſcenes: […]
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.
gloss: To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I wonne her with a gyrdle of gelt, / Emboſt with buegle about the belt.
I fed on ſcarlet hips and ſtoney havvs, / Or bluſhing crabs, or berries that imboſs / The bramble, black as jet, or ſloes auſtere.
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, […]
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!
gloss: To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: [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.
[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.
gloss: To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
obsolete
transitive
examples: 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, […]
Derived words: embossable
embossed
embosser
embossing
embossman
embossment
embossograph
embosture
imbosture
nanoemboss
Translations:
lang: Finnish
word: paisuttaa
lang: Macedonian
word: на́бабри
roman: nábabri
lang: Macedonian
word: о́тече
roman: óteče