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emboss

verb

  1. sign
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Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ɪmˈbɒs/ / /ɛm-/ / /əmˈbɔs/

noun

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.

  1. 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 pearles that fall into the subjacent basons with greate noise; I esteem this one of the goodliest fountaines I ever saw.

verb

Etymology: 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.

  1. To enclose or suit (a person) in armour.

    A knight her mett in mighty armes emboſt, […]

  2. To enclose or surround (someone or something).

    The knight his thrillant ſpeare again aſſayd / In his bras-plated body to emboſſe, […]

    None of them raſhly durſt to her approch, / Ne in ſo glorious ſpoile themſelues emboſſe, / Her ſuccourd eke the Champion of the bloody Croſſe.