Skip to content
Vinony

umber

noun

  1. brown or reddish-brown earth pigment
L29004 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈʌmbə/ / /ˈʌmbɚ/

adj

Etymology: From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

  1. Of a reddish brown colour, like that of the pigment.

    “Their harps are of the umber shade / That hides the blush of waking day.”

noun

Etymology: From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

  1. A brown clay, somewhat darker than ochre, which contains iron and manganese oxides.

    “I'll put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of umber smirch my face; The like do you; so shall we pass along, And never stir assailants.”

  2. Alternative form of umbrere.
  3. A grayling.
  4. A dusky brown African wading bird (Scopus umbretta) allied to the shoebill and herons; a hamerkop.

verb

Etymology: From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

  1. To give a reddish-brown colour to.

    “Armies o'er armies heap'd, the locusts came, Like clouds in autumn umbering all the sky […]”