emboss

/ɪmˈbɒs/

Etymology

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.

emboss means synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”). Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 82 out of 100.

noun

Synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”).“In this [the piazza of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City] is a fountaine out of which gushes a river rather than a streeme, which ascending a good height breakes upon a round embosse of marble into millions of pearles that fall into the subjacent basons with greate noise; I esteem this one of the goodliest fountaines I ever saw.”

verb

To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.“VVhen God, vvhoſe vvords more in a moment can, / Then in an Age the proudeſt ſtrength of Man, / Had ſeuered the Floods, leuell'd the Fields, / Embas't the Valleys, and emboſt the Hils; […]”
To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand out from a surface.“[S]o glorious vvas her Throne, / In vvhich himſelfe to ſit great Neptune had been knovvn; / […] / No Fiſh in this vvide vvaſte but vvith exceeding coſt / VVas there in Antique vvorke moſt curiouſly imboſt.”
To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.“[R]ich embroideries by rare Art emboſt: […]”
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.”
To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.“I wonne her with a gyrdle of gelt, / Emboſt with buegle about the belt.”
To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.“[T]he triumph of general fraternity vvas but the most ſignalized by the total vvant of particular claims in that caſe; and by poſtponing all ſuch claims, in a caſe vvhere they really exiſted, vvhere they ſtood emboſſed, and in a manner forced themſelves on the vievv of common ſhort-ſighted benevolence.”