Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To mold or carve in relief.
  • transitive verb To decorate with or as if with a raised design.
  • transitive verb To adorn; decorate.
  • transitive verb To cover with many protuberances; stud.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To form bosses on; fashion relief or raised work upon; ornament with bosses or raised work; cover or stud with protuberances, as a shield.
  • To represent in relief or raised work; specifically, in embroidery, to raise in relief by inserting padding under the stitches. See embossing.
  • noun A boss; a protuberance.
  • To inclose as in a box; incase; sheathe.
  • To conceal in or as in a wood or thicket.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To raise the surface of into bosses or protuberances; particularly, to ornament with raised work.
  • transitive verb To raise in relief from a surface, as an ornament, a head on a coin, or the like.
  • intransitive verb obsolete To seek the bushy forest; to hide in the woods.
  • transitive verb obsolete To hide or conceal in a thicket; to imbosk; to inclose, shelter, or shroud in a wood.
  • transitive verb To surround; to ensheath; to immerse; to beset.
  • transitive verb obsolete To make to foam at the mouth, like a hunted animal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To mark or decorate with a raised design or symbol.
  • verb obsolete Of a hunted animal: to take shelter in a wood or forest.
  • verb obsolete To drive (an animal) to extremity; to exhaust, to make foam at the mouth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb raise in a relief

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English embosen, from Old French embocer : en-, in; see en– + boce, knob.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From em- +‎ boss.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Perhaps from em- + Old French bos, bois ("wood"). Compare imbosk.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word emboss.

Examples

  • Holographic titles emboss their shiny covers of orchid or teal, sometimes cobalt.

    Assumption 2010

  • He would print it from his computer and then use a US silver dollar to 'emboss' a seal on it for the notary.

    Is a clear car title required? 2005

  • - The options "emboss" and "embossmore" transform your images to a relief with two nuances.

    KDE-Apps.org Content 2009

  • - The options "emboss" and "embossmore" transform your images to a relief with two nuances.

    KDE-Look.org Content 2009

  • - The options "emboss" and "embossmore" transform your images to a relief with two nuances.

    KDE-Apps.org Content 2009

  • * You can make your images look like early photographs with the option "Sepia effect" and like a relief with "emboss" and "embossmore".

    KDE-Apps.org Content 2009

  • - The options "emboss" and "embossmore" transform your images to a relief with two nuances.

    openDesktop.org Events 2009

  • * You can make your images look like early photographs with the option "Sepia effect" and like a relief with "emboss" and "embossmore".

    KDE-Look.org Content 2009

  • * You can make your images look like early photographs with the option "Sepia effect" and like a relief with "emboss" and "embossmore".

    openDesktop.org Events 2009

  • - The options "emboss" and "embossmore" transform your images to a relief with two nuances.

    KDE-Apps.org Content 2009

Comments

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  • "To form bosses on; fashion relief or raised work upon; ornament with bosses or raised work; cover or stud with protuberances, as a shield."

    --CD&C

    January 15, 2013

  • Psst ruzuzu, boss is a moo word.

    January 15, 2013

  • and which part of the moo is it? the 'jefe' or the 'chef'"(ee)"? knobhillish? just incase sheathesomely

    January 16, 2013

  • You're not the boss of me. :-p

    Actually, it's funny--I was looking at this word because of my current obsession with marbles (which already caused me to add marble to my cattle list), but I was also fascinated by those weird old definitions about seeking shelter in the woods and hunted animals foaming at the mouth. Then, last night, I went to a lecture by Temple Grandin about improving animal welfare (especially, ironically, during the steps leading up to slaughter). She says fear is bad--I think it's mostly that it's bad for the meat and dangerous for the workers.

    Anyway... thank you, bilby.

    January 16, 2013