emboss.
To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
Meaning & usage
To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.
To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
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.
To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
Where this word comes from
PIE word *h₁én The verb is derived from Late Middle English embossen, embosen, embocen (“to be bloated; to bulge; to cause to bulge; to ornament in relief, emboss”) [and other forms], from Old French embocer (modern French embosser), from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boce (“swelling”) + -er (suffix forming verbs); boce (“swelling”) is derived from Vulgar Latin *bottia (“a bump”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *bautan (“to beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat; to bump, knock; to push”). The English word is analysable as em- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + boss (“bump, lump, protuberance”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”).
Where this word comes from
PIE word *h₁én The verb is derived from Late Middle English embossen, embosen, embocen (“to be bloated; to bulge; to cause to bulge; to ornament in relief, emboss”) [and other forms], from Old French embocer (modern French embosser), from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boce (“swelling”) + -er (suffix forming verbs); boce (“swelling”) is derived from Vulgar Latin *bottia (“a bump”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *bautan (“to beat”), from Proto-Germanic *bautaną (“to beat; to bump, knock; to push”). The English word is analysable as em- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + boss (“bump, lump, protuberance”). The noun is derived from the verb.
Of a hunted animal: to take shelter in a forest or wood.
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.
To cause (an animal's body, a person's mouth, etc.) to be covered with foam.
To cause (someone, their heart or soul, etc.) to become extremely fatigued; to exhaust.
Of a person: to foam at the mouth; also (figurative), to be furious, to rage.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English embosen, embose, enbose (“of game: to become exhausted from hunting”), possibly from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + Old French bos, bois (“woodland, woods”) (modern French bois) (from Late Latin boscus, Medieval Latin boscus (“woodlands, woods”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *busk (“bush, thicket”), from Proto-Germanic *buskaz (“bush, thicket”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH- (“to appear; to be; to become; to grow”)). Doublet of imbosk (“to conceal or hide (not necessarily in a forest or wood)”). Etymology 2 sense 2 (“to make (a hunted animal) foam at the mouth”) is probably influenced by emboss (“to decorate (something) with bosses”; etymology 1, verb sense 5), likening the flecks of foam to decorative bosses.
To enclose or suit (a person) in armour.
To enclose or surround (someone or something).
Where this word comes from
Possibly: * from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + boss (“(small) cask; leather bottle for holding wine”) (Scotland, obsolete); or * borrowed from Spanish embozarse, from embozar (“to cloak, hide; to turn up; to wrap up”) + se (“oneself; yourself; himself; herself; etc.”). Embozar is derived from em- (a variant of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + bozo (“mouth; muzzle; halter for horses”) (from Medieval Latin *buccēus (“belonging or relating to the mouth”), from Latin bucca (“mouth”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Germanic *puhô (“bag, pouch”), from Proto-Indo-European *bew-, *bʰew- (“to blow; to inflate, swell”)) + -ar (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs). The word was possibly coined by the English poet Edmund Spenser (1552 or 1553 – 1599) in his work The Faerie Queene (1590–1596): see the quotations.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.