▪ I. embossed, ppl. a.1
(ɛmˈbɒst)
[f. emboss v.1]
1. Carved or moulded in relief; ornamented with figures in relief; (of figures or ornament) raised, standing out in relief. embossed printing: printing with raised letters, as for the use of the blind, or for ornament.
| 1541 Elyot Image Gov. 67 Images..wrought..in imbosed worke. 1563 Homilies ii. Idolatry ii. (1859) 195 Embossed images began to creepe into Churches. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Relieve, embossed works, Toreumata. 1803 Phil. Trans. XCIII. 153 The..wear which attends the friction of..embossed surfaces. 1849 R. A. Willmott Jrnl. Summer in Country 15 July 141 The embossed alphabet for the blind. 1856 Emerson Eng. Traits, Lit. Wks. (Bohn) II. 103 The..bill of fare engraved on embossed paper. 1859 Gullick & Timbs Paint. 205 With sufficient body to give an embossed effect to the touch. |
2. Covered with ornamental bosses or studs; richly or sumptuously decorated.
| 1591 Lyly Sappho i. ii. 161 Endeavour to be a courtier to live in emboste roofes. 1871 G. J. Whyte-Melville Sarchedon I. 21 His master drew the embossed bit carefully from his favourite's mouth. |
† 3. In 15th c.: Humpbacked. Obs.
| c 1430 tr. Deguilleville's Pilg. Lyf. Manh. (1869) 130 Boystows she was and wrong shapen and enbosed [Fr. bossue]. |
† 4. Bulging, convex, swollen, tumid; fig. of style.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. II. 163 Thinking by their embossed speech to tickle the eares and harts of the yoong princes. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 645 The..imbossed heades of the first and right Squilla. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xiii. xix. 258 In diverse kinds of glasses; as in the hollowe the plain, the embossed. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. iii. 177 Why thou horson, impudent, imbost Rascall. 1605 ― Lear ii. iv. 227 My Daughter, thou art a Byle, a plague sore, or imbossed Carbuncle. 1646 J. Hall Horæ Vac. 39 Embossed Language tickles the eares. |
5. Bot. ‘Projecting in the centre like the boss of a shield’ (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
▪ II. † emˈbossed, ppl. a.2 Obs.
[f. emboss v.2 + -ed1.]
Of a hunted animal: Driven to extremity; foaming at the mouth from exhaustion. Also transf. of persons.
| 1641 Bp. Hall in Rem. Wks. (1660) 91 The enbossed heart panteth for the rivers. 1649 Selden Laws Eng. ii. xxvi. (1739) 117 Like an embossed Stag..he must run and out-run all. a 1658 Cleveland Gen. Poems (1677) 100 Once more to single out my emboss'd Committee-man. |