emboss
UK /ɪmˈbɒs/ · US /əmˈbɔs/ verb, noun
Forms embosses embossing embossed imboss
- verb To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
- verb To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.
- verb To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
- verb 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.”
- verb To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
- verb To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
- verb (obsolete) To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
- noun (obsolete, rare) Synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”).
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) Of a hunted animal: to take shelter in a forest or wood.
- verb (by extension, transitive, chiefly passive voice, obsolete) 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.
- verb (transitive, archaic) To cause (an animal's body, a person's mouth, etc.) to be covered with foam.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To cause (someone, their heart or soul, etc.) to become extremely fatigued; to exhaust.
- verb (intransitive, obsolete) Of a person: to foam at the mouth; also (figurative), to be furious, to rage.
- verb To enclose or suit (a person) in armour.
- verb (figurative) To enclose or surround (someone or something).
Synonyms
Etymology
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.
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)”).
Etymology 2 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.
* 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.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To arise the surface of into bosses or protuberances; particularly, to ornament with raised work.
- verb To raise in relief from a surface, as an ornament, a head on a coin, or the like.
- verb To make to foam at the mouth, like a hunted animal. [Obs.]
- verb To hide or conceal in a thicket; to imbosk; to inclose, shelter, or shroud in a wood. [Obs.]
Etymology [Pref. em- (L. in) + boss: cf. OF. embosser to swell in bunches.]
Etymology [Etymology uncertain.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “emboss”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details