▪ I. ember1
(ˈɛmbə(r))
Forms: 1 ǽmerᵹe, 4 aym-, em, eemer, 5 eymbre, -bery, (6 pl. embries, emmers, Sc. amer-, ammer-, amyrris,) 6–7 imber, 9 dial. yummer.
[OE. ǽmerᵹe wk. fem., corresponds to OHG. eimuria (MHG. eimere), ON. eimyrja (Da. emmer, Sw. mörja):— OTeut. *aimuzjôn-; for the suffix cf. Goth. jukuzi (stem jukuzjâ-) yoke. The ME. forms with ay- ey- point to adoption from ON. rather than to descent from OE. The disappearance of the vowel of the original second syllable occasioned the insertion of the euphonic b, normal between m and r.]
1. A small piece of live coal or wood in a half-extinguished fire. Chiefly in pl.: The smouldering ashes of a fire.
| c 1000 Ags. Leechdoms III. 30 Nim ðu clatan moran..& berec hy on hate æmerᵹean. ? c 1390 Form of Cury in Warner Antiq. Culin. 15 Take chyches, and..lay hem in hoot aymers. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. x. ix (Tollem. MS.), Also fyry emeris [1535 emers; 1582 embers] is rauischid and meuid upwarde by rauischynge of wynde. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 136 Eymbre, hote aschys [1499 eymery or synder, hote asshes], pruna. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. iii. 137 The reliquies and the dry ammeris syne Thai slokkin. 1555 Fardle Facions i. v. 72 They feede them [children] with..rootes, rosted in the embries. 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 258 They heat it [flesh] a little upon imbers of coales. 1632 Milton Penseroso 79 Glowing embers..Teach light to counterfeit a gloom. 1719 Young Busiris i. i. (1757) 13 Sleeping embers which will rise in flames. 1838–42 Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxxvii. 475 Only the expiring embers of a great fire. a 1849 Poe Raven, Each separate dying ember Wrought its ghost upon the floor. 1874 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cii. 3 The last comforting ember is quenched. |
2. fig.
| 1513 More Edw. V Ep. Ded. 3 To revive that which hath for a long time been raked up in the embers of oblivion. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Warres i. 20 But the secret lay not long in the Embers. 1787 Bentham Def. Usury 178 Success does not..arise out of the embers of ill-success. 1874 Bancroft Footpr. Time i. 97 The embers of independence..broke forth in war. |
3. Comb. ember-bread (see quot.; but the statement is app. a fiction to explain ember-days.)
| 1681 Wharton Fasts & Fest. Wks. (1683) 30 A Cake baked under the Embers or Ashes, which was called..Ember-bread. 1796 Pegge Anonym. (1809) 135. |
▪ II. ember2
(ˈɛmbə(r))
Now only attrib. and in Comb. Forms: α. 1 ymbren, 6–8 embring, -yng, 6 im-, ymbring, 6–7 imb-, embering. β. in Comb. 3 umbri-(ü), ymbri-, 4 ymber-, 5 embyr-, ymbre-, 6 embre-, (amber-), 7– ember.
[The OE. ymbren (app. neut.: pl. ymbren), perh. a corruption (due to attrib. use) of OE. ymbryne masc., period, revolution of time, f. ymb about, round + ryne course, running.
It seems however not wholly impossible that the word may have been due to popular etymology working upon some Vulgar Lat. corruption of quatuor tempora; cf. Ger. quatember Ember-tide; for the possibility of OE. mb for L. mp, and for the suffix, cf. OE. ęmbren from L. amp(h)ora. The ON. imbru(-dagar), OSw. ymber(-dagar) appear to be ad. Eng.; OSw. had also tamper-dagar from tempora.]
The English name of the four periods of fasting and prayer (L. quatuor tempora) appointed by the Church to be observed respectively in the four seasons of the year. Each of these fasts occupies three days, viz. a Wednesday and the following Friday and Saturday; these are called Ember days, and the weeks in which they occur are called Ember weeks. Since the Council of Placentia a.d. 1095, the Ember days have been the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday next following (1) the first Sunday in Lent, (2) Whitsunday, (3) Holy Cross Day, 14 Sept., (4) St. Lucia's Day, 13 Dec. In the Roman Church the Ember-Saturdays, and in the Church of England the Sundays immediately following, are the days on which ordinations usually take place.
† 1. As an independent n.; = ember-day (only in αforms). Obs.
| c 1010 Laws of æthelred (Thorpe) VI. xxiii, Ymbren & fæstena. Ibid. xxv, Heah-freolsdaᵹum & riht-ymbrenum. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Rubric to Luke viii. 40 Ðis sceal on friᵹedæᵹ on þære pentecostenes wucan to þam ymbrene. 1547 Salesbury Welsh Dict., Katcor [i.e. cadgor, a fast], Embryng. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 28 Keepe Embrings wel, and fasting daies. |
2. attrib. and Comb., as ember († embring)-day, ember-fast, ember-Friday, ember-time, ember-tide, ember-week; ember-eve, the vigil of an Ember day.
| α a 1000 Laws of ælfred xliii, On iiii. ymbren-wican. a 1036 Laws of Cnut (Eccl.) xvi, Si hit Ymbren-fæsten si hit lengcten-fæsten. Ibid. xvii, We forbeodað ordal & aðas freolsdaᵹum & ymbren-daᵹum. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men (W. de Worde) ii. xvi. (1506) 125 To faste foure tymes in the yere the ymbrynge tyme. 1548 Act 2 & 3 Edw. VI, c. 19 Preamb., Abstinence, which hath been used..upon..the Embring Days, and other Days. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xii. xiv. 200 He..must come to church upon an embering fridaie. 1590 Tarleton News Purgat. (1844) 64 [The pope] that made the imbering-weekes in honour of his faire and beautifull curtizan Imbra. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) II. 30/1 Counselling..the said Roger Dods, upon an Embring day, to sup with Bread and Cheese. 1752 Carte Hist. Eng. III. 227 Abstinence from flesh in Lent, and on..embring days. |
| β a 1225 Ancr. R. 70 Holdeþ silence..iðe Umbridawes [v.r. ymbri wikes]. 138. Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 203 Þe Wednesday Gospel in ymber weke in Septembre moneþe. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 139 Embyrday, angarium vel quatuor temporum. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. x. 155 By the kalender we knowe..the ymbre dayes. c 1550 Bale K. Johan 41 Bothe amber dayes & lentes. 1550 Wyll of Deuyll (Collier) 4, I geue..the Embredays to pope Calixtus. 1608 Shakes. Per. i. Cho. 6 A song of old..sung at festivals, On ember⁓eves, and holy ales. 1622 Middleton, etc. Old Law iii. i, Are all fallen into fasting-days and Ember-weeks? 1634 Canne Necess. Separ. (1849) 117 And pope Calixtus in the year 206 ordained Ember fasts. 1704 Nelson Fest. & Fasts ii. iii. (1739) 469 These Fasts..may..be said to be Ember Days. 1726 Ayliffe Parerg. 281 The four Seasons of the year called the Ember-Weeks. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) I. App. 386 The Ember fasts, on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, four times in the year. 1849–53 Rock Ch. of Fathers IV. xi. 64 On the ember-days, the deacon and subdeacon wore..the chasuble. 1849 Miss Mulock Ogilvies xii. (1875) 90 How near it is to Ember weeks. |
▪ III. ember3
Also imber, immer, emmer, ammer.
[a. Norw. emmer(-gaas); Icel. has himbrimi older himbrin; Faroic imbrim (Vigf.).]
A kind of sea-fowl (Colymbus Immer Linn. Pennant) frequenting the seas about Orkney, a variety of the Northern Diver or Loon (Colymbus glacialis) to which the name is sometimes given. Chiefly in Comb. as ember-goose, ember-diver.
| 1744 Preston Zetland in Phil. Trans. XLIII. 61/2 The Ember-Goose, which is said to hatch her Egg under her Wing. 1802 G. Montagu Ornith. Dict. (1833) 267 Imber-Diver—a name for the Loon. 1822 Scott Pirate xxi, Be mine the imber-goose to play. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Brit. Birds (E.D.S.) 213 Immer or Ember (Orkney), Imber Diver (Ireland), Ammer or Emmer goose (Aberdeen, E. Lothian). |