emboss

verb

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

   “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.”

2. (transitive)To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.

   “[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.”

3. (transitive)To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.

   “[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; […]”

4. (transitive)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.”

   “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: […]”

5. (transitive)To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.

   “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!”

6. (figuratively, transitive)To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.

   “[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.”

7. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.

   “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, […]”

8. (intransitive, obsolete, transitive)Of a hunted animal: to take shelter in a forest or wood.

   “So vertue giv'n for loſt, / Depreſt, and overthrovvn, as ſeem'd, / Like that ſelf-begott'n bird / In the Arabian woods emboſt, […]”

   “An Elephant from one of thoſe / Tvvo mighty Armies is broke looſe, / […] / Look quickly, leſt the Sight of us / Should cauſe the ſtartled Beaſt t’imboſs.”

9. (broadly, obsolete, transitive)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.

   “Thus stode I in the frytthy forest of Galtres, / Ensowkid with sylt of the myry mose, / Where hartis belluyng, embosyd with distres, / Ran on the raunge so longe, […]”

   “And if hee [a hart] ſhould runne into any of thoſe two windes, it would quickly enter his throate when he is emboſt and beginneth to be ſpent, & would drie his throat & his tong ſore, and woud altarand chafe him much with the vehement heat thereof.”

   “In her right hand a firebrand ſhee did toſſe / About her head, ſtill roming here and there; / As a diſmayed Deare in chace emboſt, / Forgetfull of his ſafety, hath his right vvay loſt.”

   “And as it commonly happneth, that when the Stagge begins to be emboſt, and findes his ſtrength to faile-him, having no other remedie left him, doth yeelde and bequeath himſelfe vnto vs that purſue him, with tears ſuing to vs for mercie[…].”

   “VVhen like a Deere before the hounds imboſte, / VVhen him his ſtrength beginneth to forſake, / […] / Thus ſtill I ſhift me from the Princes face, / VVhich hath me novv continually in chaſe.”

10. (archaic, broadly, transitive)To cause (an animal's body, a person's mouth, etc.) to be covered with foam.

    “I suppose (except I be moche deceiued) thou seest me nat stare with myn eyen, or my mouthe imbosed, or the colour of my face chaunged, or any other deformitie in my persone or gesture, or that my wordes be swyfte, or my voyce louder than modestie requyreth, or that I am unstable in my gesture or motion, whiche be the sygnes and euident tokens of wrathe and impacience.”

    “For, jaded now, and spent with toil, / Embossed with foam, and dark with soil, / While every gasp with sobs he drew, / The labouring stag strained full in view.”

11. (broadly, obsolete, transitive)To cause (someone, their heart or soul, etc.) to become extremely fatigued; to exhaust.

    “But ſee, ah ſee, I ſee hovv Loue caſts off Deſire his Hound, / A fell fleet Dogge, that hunts my Heart by parſee each-vvheare found. / Svveet Cynthea rate the eger Curre, and ſo thy foe preuent, / For, loe, a farre my chaſed Heart imboſte and almoſt ſpent.”

    “[W]e haue almoſt imboſt him, you ſhall ſee his fall to night; for indeede he is not for your Lordſhippes reſpect.”

    “Great God! my Time's but ſhort, and long my vvay, / My heart hath loſt her Path, and gone aſtray, / My ſpirit's faint, and fraile, my ſoule's imboſt, / If thou helpe not, I am for ever loſt; […]”

12. (broadly, intransitive, obsolete, transitive)Of a person: to foam at the mouth; also (figurative), to be furious, to rage.
13. (obsolete, transitive)To enclose or suit (a person) in armour.

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

14. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)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.”

    “And there all night himſelfe in anguiſh toſt, / Vovving, that neuer he in bed againe / His limbes vvould reſt, ne lig in eaſe emboſt, / Till that his Ladies ſight he more attaine, / Or vnderſtand, that ſhe in ſafetie did remaine.”

    “A Merchants gaine is great that goes to Sea, / A Souldier emboſſed all in gold: / A Flatterer lies fox'd in braue array, / A Scholler only ragged to behold.”

noun

1. (obsolete, rare, transitive)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.”