Meaning

To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings..

Definitions by Sense

1. To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
2. To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.
3. To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
4. To decorate or mark (something) with a design or symbol in relief.
5. To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
6. To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
7. To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
8. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”).

Example Sentences

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.

[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.

Word Forms

• embosses
• embossing
• embossed
• imboss

Synonyms for emboss

Related Words

When Should You Use Emboss?

Use emboss when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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