Embernagra 
genus of fringilline birds, related to Pipilo, hav- 
ing green as the principal color, the wings and 
tail much rounded, of equal length, the tarsus 
moderate, and the toes short; the American 
greenfinches. The Texas sparrow or greenfinch is E. 
rufuviryata, a common species in the lower Kio Grande 
valley. Also called Liinnoxpiza. 
embertide (em'ber-Ud), w. [< ember? + tide.'] 
One of the seasons in which ember-days occur. 
ember-week (em'ber-wek), n. [< ME. yiuber- 
iceke, umbri-ivike, < AS. ymbren-wice: see ember 2 
and ii-eei 1 .] A week in which ember-days fall. 
And are all fallen into fasting-days and Ember-t<rr,] l :i, 
that cooks are out of use ? Massinger, The Old Law, Hi. 1. 
Constant she keeps her Emter-iveek and Lent. 
Prior, The Modern Saint. 
embesyt, v. t. Same as embusy. Skelton. 
embettert (em-bet'er), v. t. [< cm- 1 + better 1 .'] 
To make better. 
For cruelty doth not embetter men, 
But them more wary make than they have been. 
Daniel, Chorus in Philotas. 
embezzle (em-bez'l), v. t, ; pret. and pp. embez- 
zled, ppr. embezzling. [Early mod. E. (16th 
cent.) imbezzle, imbezel, embesyll, embecyll, em- 
besel, imbesel, imbezil, imbecill, etc., weaken, di- 
mmish, filch, < imbecile (accented on 2d syll.), 
< OF. imbecille, weak, feeble: see imbecile, and 
cf. bezzle.] If. To weaken; diminish the power 
or extent of. 
And so iinbecill all theyr strengthe that they are naught 
to me. Drant, tr. of Horace's Satires, i. C. 
The seconde plage of the seconde angell, as the seconde 
judgemente of God against the regiment of Koine, and 
this is imheselynffc and dimynishe of their power and do- 
minion, many landes and people fallynge from them. 
J. Udall, Revelations of St. John, xvi. 
2f. To waste or dissipate in extravagance; mis- 
appropriate or misspend. 
I do not like that this unthrifty youth should embezzle 
away the money. 
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 2. 
"When thou hast embezzled all thy store. 
Dryden, tr. of Persins's Satires. 
3f. To steal slyly ; purloin ; filch ; make off 
with. 
A feloe . . . that had cmbesled and conveied awaye a cup 
of golde. J. Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, 83. 
The Jewels, rich apparell, presents, gold, siluer, costly 
furres, and such like, were coimeyed away, concealed, and 
vtterly embc.zclled. llakluyt's Voyages, I. 2SC. 
4. To appropriate fraudulently to one's own 
use, as what is intrusted to one's care ; apply to 
one's private use by a breach of trust, as a clerk 
or servant who misappropriates his employer's 
money or valuables. 
He accused several citizens who had heen entrusted with 
public money with embezzling it. J. Adams, Works, V. 25. 
5f. To confuse ; amaze. 
They came where Sancho was, astonisht and embeseled 
with what he heard and saw. 
Shelton, tr. of Don Quixote (1652), fol. 158, hack. 
embezzlement (em-bez'1-ment), n. [< embezzle 
+ -ment.~\ The act of embezzling ; specifically, 
the act by which a clerk, servant, or other per- 
son occupying a position of trust fraudulently 
appropriates to his own use the money or goods 
intrusted to his care; a criminal conversion; 
the appropriation to one's self by a breach of 
trust of the property or money of another; "a 
sort of statutory larceny, committed by ser- 
vants and other like persons where there is a 
trust reposed, and therefore no trespass, so that 
the act would not be larceny at the common 
law" (Bishop). 
To remove douhts which had existed respecting embez- 
zlements by merchants' and bankers' clerks, it was enact- 
ed, by the 39 George III. eh. 85, that if any servant or 
clerk should by virtue of his employment receive any 
money, bills, or any valuable security, goods or effects, 
in the name or on the account of his master or employer, 
and should afterwards embezzle any part of the same, he 
shall be deemed to have feloniously stolen the same, and 
should be subject to transportation for any term not ex- 
ceeding fourteen years. 
Blackstone, Com., IV. xvii., note 3. 
Embezzlement is distinguished from larceny properly 
so called , as being committed in respect of property which 
is not, at the time, in the actual or legal possession of the 
owner- Bun-ill. 
embezzler (em-bez'ler), n. One who embez- 
zles. 
Embia (em'bi-a), )i. [NL.] The typical genus 
of the family Embiidce. E. savignii is an Egyp- 
tian species. 
embiid (em'bi-id), n. One of the Enibiidce. 
Embiidae (em-bl'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Embia + 
-iV/'i 1 .] A small family of neuropterous (pseu- 
doneuropterous) insects, of the group Corro- 
deiitia, related to the Psocictie, characterized 
1800 
by the narrow depressed body, head distinct 
from the thorax, many-jointed moniliform an- 
tennae, 3-jointed tarsi, and few-veined wings of 
equal size. They are small phy tophagous insects ; their 
larva; are found under stones in silken galleries. By some 
they are referred to the Orthoptera. The leading genera 
are Embia, Olynthia, and Oligotoma. Also written Em- 
bidce. 
embillow (em-bil'6), v. i. [< em- 1 + billotr>.~\ 
To heave, as the waves of the sea; swell. 
[Bare.] 
And then enbyllowed high doth in his pride disdaine 
With fome and roaring din all hugeness of the maine. 
LMe, tr. of Du Bartas's First Booke of Noe. 
Embiotoca (em-bi-ot'p-ka), n. [NL., < Gr. i/i- 
fiiuf, being in life, living (< h, in, + /3<of, life), 
+ TIKTCIV, TCKelv, bring forth (> TOKOS, offspring).] 
The typical genus of the family Embiotocidce. 
L. Agassis, 1853. 
embiotocid (em-bi-ot'o-sid), . One of the Em- 
bio tocidce. 
Embiptocidse (em"bi-o-tos'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < 
Embiotoca + -idee.] A family of viviparous 
acanthopterygian fishes, related to the lab- 
roids ; the surf -fishes, in the widest sense. They 
are of ordinary compressed oval form, like the white perch, 
and have cycloid scales, lateral line continuous and paral- 
lel with the back, head and mouth small, with jaw-teeth 
only, the single dorsal fln 8- to 18-spined, folding into a 
groove in the back, and the anal fln long and 3-spined. 
They are mostly small fishes, the largest only 18 inches 
long, the smallest 4 or 5. All are viviparous, a remarkable 
fact first made known to science in 1853 ; 10 to 20 young are 
born at a litter. Nearly all are marine, abounding on the 
Pacific coast of the United States, where they are among 
the inferior food-fishes, and are called perches, porgies, 
shiners, etc. About 20 species, referred to about a dozen 
genera, are now known. Of these species 17 are confined 
to the Pacific coast waters of North America, and one is 
peculiar to the fresh waters of California. The marine 
species belong to the subfamily Embiotocince, the fresh-wa- 
ter species to the subfamily Hyxterocarpina?. The family 
has also been called Ditremidce, Ditremata, llolconoti, 
and Holconotidce. See cut under Ditremidce. 
Embiotocinas (em-bi-ot-o-si'ne), n. pi. [NL., < 
Embiotoca + -ince.~\ The surf-fishes proper, or 
marine embiotocoids, the typical subfamily of 
EmbiotocidcE, with the spinous portion of the 
dorsal shorter than the soft part, and having 
onlv from 8 to 11 spines. 
embiotocine (em-bi-ot'o-sin), a. and n. I. a. 
Pertaining to or having the characters of the 
Embiotocince. 
II. . A fish of the subfamily Embiotocince. 
embiotopoid (em-bi-ot'o-koid), a. and . I. a. 
Pertaining to or having the characters of the 
Embiotocidce. 
II. n. A viviparous fish of the family Embio- 
tncidce; one of the surf -fishes. 
embitter (em-bit'6r), r. t. [Formerly also im- 
bitter; < em- 1 + bitter 1 ."] 1. To make bitter or 
more bitter. [Rare in the literal sense.] 
One grain of bad embitters all the best. 
Dryden, Iliad, i. 775. 
2. To affect with bitterness or unhappiness ; 
make distressful or grievous : as, the sins of 
youth often embitter old age. 
Is there anything that more embitters the enjoyments of 
this life than shame ? Smith, Sermons. 
Stern Powers who make their care 
To embitter human life, malignant Deities. 
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna. 
To open the door of escape to those who live in conten- 
tion would not necessarily embitter the relations of those 
who are happy. N. A. Rev., CXXXIX. 240. 
3. To render more violent or malignant; exas- 
perate. 
Men, the most embittered against each other by former 
contests. Bancroft. 
embitterer (em-bit'er-er), n. One who or that 
which embitters. 
The fear of death has always been considered as the 
greatest enemy of human quiet, the polluter of the feast 
of happiness, and the embitterer of the cup of joy. 
Johnson. 
embitterment (em-bit'er-ment), n. [< embit- 
ter + -ment.~\ The act of embittering. 
The commotions, terrors, expectations, and embitter- 
ment/f of repentance. 
Plutarch, Morals (trans.), iv. 155 (Ord MS.). 
emblancht (em -blanch'), . * [< ME. em- 
blaunclten, < OF. emblanchir, "enblancliir, en- 
blancir, whiten, < en- + blanchir, whiten, < blanc, 
white: see en- and blanch."] To whiten. 
It was impossible that a spot of so deep a dye should be 
einblanck'd. Heylin, Life of Laud, p. 260. 
emblaze (em-blaz'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. em- 
blazed, ppr. emblazing. [<em-l + blazef.] 1. 
To kindle ; set in a blaze. 
Works dainn'd, or to be damn'd (your father's fault) ! 
Go, purified by flames, ascend the sky, . . . 
Not sulphur-tipp'd, emblaze an aleho'use fire. 
Pope, Dunciad, i. 235. 
emblem 
2. To adorn with glittering embellishments; 
cause to glitter or shine. 
The unsought diamonds 
Would so imblaze the forehead of the deep, 
And so bestud with stars, that they below 
Would grow inured to light. Hilton, Comus, 1. 733. 
Ho weeping orphan saw his father's stores 
Our shrines irradiate, or emblaze the floors. 
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 138. 
*And forky flames emblaze the blackening storm. 
J. Barlow, Vision of Columbus, viii. 
3. To display or set forth conspicuously or os- 
tentatiously ; blazon. 
But thou shalt wear it as a herald's coat, 
To emblaze the honour that thy master got. 
Shale., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 10. 
Stout Hercules 
Emblaz'd his trophies on two posts of brass. 
Greene, Orlando Furioso. 
emblazon (em-bla'zon), v. [< em- 1 + blazon."] 
1. trans. 1 . To adorn with figures of heraldry 
or ensigns armorial: as, a snield emblazoned 
with armorial bearings. 
Boys paraded the streets, bearing banners emblazmied 
with the arms of Aragon. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 3. 
2. To depict or represent, as an armorial en- 
sign on a shield. 
My shield, . . . - 
On which when Cnpid, with his killing bow 
And cruell shafts, emblazond she beheld, 
At sight thereof she was with terror qneld. 
Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 55. 
3. To set off with ornaments ; decorate ; illu- 
minate. 
Ere heaven's emblazon'd by the rosy dawn, 
Domestic cares awake him. J. Philips, Cider, ii. 
The walls were . . . emblazoned with legends in com- 
memoration of the illustrious pair. Prescott. 
Those stories of courage and sacrifice which emblazon 
the annals of Greece and Rome. Sumner, Orations, 1. 12. 
4. To celebrate in laudatory terms ; sing the 
praises of. 
We find Augustus . . . emblazoned by the poets. 
llakewill, Apology. 
Heroes emblazoned high to fame. 
Longfellow, tr. of Coplas de Manrique. 
You whom the fathers made free and defended, 
Stain not the scroll that emblazons their fame ! 
0. If. Holme*, Never or Now. 
II. t intrans. To blaze forth ; shine out. 
Til' engladden'd spring, forgetful now to weep, 
Began t' cnblazon from her leavy bed. 
0. Fletcher, Christ's Triumph after Death. 
emblazoner (em-bla'zon-er), H. 1. One who 
emblazons; a herald. 2. A decorator; an il- 
luminator ; one who practises ornamentation. 
I step again to this emblazoner of his title-page, . . . 
and here I find him pronouncing, without reprieve, those 
animadversions to be a slanderous and scurrilous libel. 
Hilton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
emblazonment (em-bla'zpn-ment), n. [< em- 
blazon + -ment."] 1. The act of emblazoning. 
2. That which is emblazoned. Imp. Diet. 
emblazonry (em-bla'zon-ri), n. [< emblazon + 
-ry.~] 1. The act or art of emblazoning. 2. 
Heraldic decoration, as pictures or figures upon 
shields, standards, etc. 
Who saw the Banner reared on high 
In all its dread emblazonry. 
Wordsworth, White Doe of Rylstone, iiL 
Thine ancient standard's rich emblazonrit. 
Abp. Trench, Gibraltar. 
emblem (em'blem), n. [= D. emblcem = G. 
Dan. Sw. emblem; < OF. embleme, F. embleme 
= Sp. Pg. cmblema = It. cmblema, < L. emblema, 
pi. emblemata, raised ornaments on vessels, tes- 
sellated work, mosaic, < Gr. i/ifltyfia(T-), an in- 
sertion (L. sense not recorded in Gr.), < e/j/JaX- 
/".f(v, put in, lay on, < cv, in, + /3<tt/U>, cast, 
throw, put. ] If. That which is put in or on in- 
laid work; inlay; inlaid or mosaic work ; some- 
thing ornamental inserted in another body. 
Under foot the violet, 
Crocus, and hyacinth, with rich inlay 
Broider'd the ground, more colonr'd than with stone 
Of costliest emblem. Milton, P. L., iv. 703. 
2. A symbolical design or figure with explana- 
tory writing ; a design or an image suggesting 
some truth or fact ; the expression of a thought 
oridea both in design and in words : as, Quarles's 
Emblems (a collection of such representations). 
Emblem reduceth conceits intellectual to images sen- 
sible. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 232. 
3. Any object whose predominant quality sym- 
bolizes something else, as another quality, con- 
dition, state, and the like ; the figure of such 
an object used as a symbol ; an allusive figure; 
a symbol: as, a white robe is an emblem of pu- 
rity; a balance, of justice ; a crown, of royalty. 
