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emboss

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Etymology and origin of the English word emboss

Pronunciation

  • UK: /ɪmˈbɒs/, /ɛm-/[1]
  • US: /əmˈbɔs/, /ɛm-/[1]

emboss1 of a hunted animal: driven to exhaustion

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing, Derivation
First attested
c. 1369 Chaucer, Book of the Duchess
From
Old French bos via Middle English

Etymology

The word for a hunted animal taking to the woods or being run to exhaustion is inherited from Middle English embosen,[2][3] probably from Old French bos (“wood, forest”), a variant of bois, with the prefix en-.[2][4][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged takes the French noun to be of Germanic origin, akin to Old High German busc (“bush”) and so to bush.[3] The OED notes that the corresponding Old French embuiser had the sense of ambush, so that the English verb would ultimately be the same as imbosk;[4] the Shorter Oxford derives it directly from emboscher, a variant of the French verb that gave ambush.[5] The OED calls the development of senses strange.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a hunted deer: in Chaucer's Book of the Duchess (about 1369), where the hart had "so moche embosed".[2][4] The OED reads this as "to take shelter in a wood or thicket",[4] the Middle English Dictionary and Benson's Chaucer glossary as "to become exhausted from being hunted".[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word described a hart worn out by the chase, as in Malory's "passynge wery and inboced".[2] From 1523 the passive meant to be exhausted from running, and hence to foam at the mouth from exhaustion,[4][5] and by extension a person could be worn out or foaming with rage;[4][3] from 1531 it also meant to cover a mouth or body with foam.[4] Spenser in 1590 used it for driving a hunted animal to extremity.[4][5] Milton used the participle embost in Samson Agonistes (1671) for imbosked,[4] and Johnson (1755) listed this use separately, as "to inclose in a thicket", next to "to hunt hard".[7] All the hunting senses are now obsolete except the archaic "to cover with foam".[4][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1369 – of a hunted animal, to take shelter in a wood, or to be exhausted by the chase.[4][2]
  • 1523 – passive, to be exhausted from running; to foam at the mouth (obsolete by 1735).[4]
  • 1531 – to cover with foam.[4]
  • 1590 – to drive a hunted animal to extremity (obsolete by 1768).[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (archaic) To cover or spatter with foam.[3][4]
  2. (obsolete) To drive a hunted animal to bay or to exhaustion.[3][4][5]
  3. (obsolete) To make an animal foam at the mouth from exhaustion.[3][4][5]

emboss2 to raise in relief

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1385 Chaucer, Legend of Good Women
Borrowed from
Old French embocer via Middle English
Ultimate origin
Old French boce

Etymology

The word for raising a design in relief is inherited from Middle English embocen, also embosen,[2][8][9] borrowed from Old French embocer,[8][10][11] formed from en- (“in, into”) and boce (“hump, bump, knob”),[10][12][8] the source of boss in the sense of a knob or raised ornament.[12][13] The OED notes that the French verb is apparently not recorded before 1530,[4] and Etymonline compares embocieure (“boss, stud, buckle”).[12] The French noun comes from either Frankish *botija or Vulgar Latin *bottia, both of uncertain origin.[12][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

To carve or mould in relief: about 1385, in Chaucer's Legend of Good Women,[4][8] where Benson's glossary gives the participle enbosede as "ornamented in relief".[6]

Semantic evolution

Hoad dates "mould in relief" to the 14th century and "cover with protuberances" to the 15th.[13] Lydgate used the participle for things swollen or bulging, as a belly "enbosid with fatnes",[2] and in 1430 for adorning a surface with figures in relief.[4] From 1564 to 1646 the verb could also mean to inflate a style or give something exaggerated prominence.[4] From 1579, in Spenser, it meant to stud with bosses and so to decorate richly.[4][5] Johnson (1755) gave "to form with protuberances" and "to engrave with relief" as its first two senses.[7] Merriam-Webster Unabridged notes that raised designs are now made chiefly by machine, with embossing dies, and contrasts deboss.[3] A noun emboss, a knob, was recorded once, by Evelyn in 1644.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1385 – to carve or mould in relief.[4][8]
  • c. 1425 – as a participle, swollen, bulging.[2] The OED dates the intransitive sense "to bulge" to about 1430.[4]
  • 1430 – to adorn with figures in relief.[4]
  • c. 1475 – to cause to bulge; to cover with protuberances.[4][2]
  • 1564 – figurative, to inflate a style (obsolete by 1646).[4]
  • 1579 – to ornament with bosses or studs.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carve, mould or stamp a design on a surface so that it stands out in relief: The printer embossed the company's crest on the letterhead.[11][3][4]
  2. To decorate a surface with raised designs or bosses.[3][4]
  3. To cause to bulge or protrude.[11][4]

Word family

  • embosser
  • embossable
  • embossment

Usage notes

A third verb emboss, apparently first used by Spenser in 1590, meant to encase in armour or to plunge a weapon into a body, and is obsolete since the early 17th century;[4][5] the OED and the Shorter Oxford derive it perhaps from the prefix en- and a noun boss, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged, which glosses it "enclose, ensheathe", calls its origin unknown.[4][5][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "to inclose; to include; to cover".[7] The OED also lists a nautical verb from French embosser, found only in a dictionary of 1768.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  7. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  10. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  13. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Emboss.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/emboss. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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