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▪ I. amber, n.1 and a.|ˈæmbə(r)|
Forms: 4 ambra, 5 aumber, -ur, ambyr, 5–7 ambre, 6 awmer, 5– amber. Also 5–6 lamber, -re, lammer.
[a. Fr. ambre, cogn. w. Pr. ambre, Pr. and It. ambra, Sp. ambar, med.L. ambar, -are, -er, -ra, -re, -rum, a. Arab. ﻋanbar, ‘ambergris,’ to which the name orig. belonged; afterwards extended, through some confusion of the substances, to the fossil resin ‘amber.’ In Fr. the two are distinguished as grey, and yellow amber, ambre gris (‘ambre proprement dit’), and ambre jaune (succin); in mod.Eng. as amber-gris and amber. In the north. dial. the latter was formerly distinguished as lamber, a. Fr. l'ambre with article attached.]
A. n.
I. A product of the whale.
†1.
a. orig. = ambergris. (In 17th c. greece of amber, gris ambre, gray amber.) Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xxvi. 463 The whale haþ gret plente of sperme..and yf it is gaderid and dryeþ, it turneþ to þe substaunce of ambra [1535 ambre]. 1477Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) v. 70 Amber, Narde, and Mirrhe. 1587Harrison England i. ii. xx. 330 Induing the fruits with the savour of muske, ambre, etc. 1662Fuller Worthies i. 194 It is called Ambra-gresia, That is, Gray Amber, from the Colour thereof. 1670Cotton Espernon iii. ix. 447 Some pieces of Amber-gris, (or rather black Amber, for it was of that colour). 1693in Blount Nat. Hist. 14 Great variety of Opinions hath there been concerning Amber. Some think it to be a Gum that distils from Trees: Others tell us, it is made of Whales Dung; or else of their Sperm or Seed, (as others will have it,) which being consolidate and harden'd by the Sea is cast upon the Shore. 1718Lady M. Montague Lett. I. xxxvii. 146 Slaves..with silver censers..perfumed the air with amber, aloes-wood, and other scents.
b. attrib.
1634Habington Castara (1870) 85 A mighty showre Of Amber comfits it sweete selfe did powre Vpon our heads. 1671Milton Samson 720 An amber scent of odorous perfume.
†2. white amber (med.L. ambra alba): Spermaceti. [Confused with prec., as the ‘sperm’ of a whale.] Obs. (See also 6.)[Cf.1598–1611Florio, Ambra, amber, also amber greece, also the sperme of a Whale called Spermaceti. 1611Cotgr., Ambre blanc, white Amber.] II. The resin.
3. a. A yellowish translucent fossil resin, found chiefly along the southern shores of the Baltic. It is used for ornaments; burns with an agreeable odour; often entombs the bodies of insects, etc.; and when rubbed becomes notably electric (so called from its Greek name ἤλεκτρον). (See also lamber.)
c1400Destr. Troy v. 1666 Bourdourt about all with bright Aumbur. c1450Bk. Curtasye iii. 481 The wardrop he herbers, and eke of chambur Ladyes with bedys of coralle and lambur. 1463in Bury Wills 15 A peyre bedys of ambyr with a ryng of syluir. a1529Skelton Elynour Rummyng 603 But my bedes of amber, Bere them to my chamber. 1552Huloet, Ambre called lambre or yelow Ambre. 1556Richmond. Wills (1853) 89 One paire of long beads of awmer. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 200 Thicke Amber, or Plum-Tree Gumme. 1658Sir T. Browne Hydriot. ii. 18 That Romane Urne..wherein were found an Ape of Agate, an Elephant of Ambre. 1735Pope Ep. Arbuthnot 169 Pretty! in amber to observe the forms Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms! 1794Sullivan View Nat. II. 27 Amber, when rubbed, was observed to attract bits of straw, down, and other light bodies. 1847Blackwell Malet's North. Antiq. 374 Byron caught him up, and..preserved him, like a fly in amber, for future generations to wonder at. 1865Carlyle Fredk. Gt. I. ii. ii. 54 Amber, science declares, is a kind of petrified resin, distilled by pines that were dead before the days of Adam.
b. oil of amber: obtained by its dry distillation. spirit of amber: old name of succinic acid.
1551Robinson More's Utopia (1869) 80 Fine linnen cloth dipped in oyle of [printed or] ambre. a1700[see spirit n. 22]. 1737Gray Let. in Poems (1775) 23 Not hartshorn, nor spirit of amber, nor all that furnishes the closet of an apothecary's widow. 1879Syd. Soc. Lex., Amber..is used to prepare oil of amber and succinic acid.
†4. A piece of amber used as an amulet to attract lovers. Obs.
1604Dekker Honest Wh. 51 Pearles and Ambers, Shall not draw me to their Chambers. 1691Bagford Bal. I. 122 The fair Queen of Egypt she wore a Commode, On the top of it was a lac'd Amber.
5. fig.
a. Referring to the property of amber as enclosing and preserving insects of past ages.
1863Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. xii. 314 Full-fledged specimens of your order, preserved for all time in the imperishable amber of his genius.
b. Referring to colour: Amber-coloured substance or appearance.
1735Somerville Chase iii. 173 In the full Glass the liquid Amber smiles, Our native Product. 1830Tennyson Margaret i, The tender amber round, Which the moon about her spreadeth. 1879― Lover's T. 32 The loud stream Ran amber toward the west. 1862Tyndall Mountaineer. i. 4 The amber of the western sky.
III. Extensions of prec.
6. An alloy of four parts of gold with one of silver (L. ēlectrum, Pliny, Gr. ἤλεκτρον, f. ἠλέκτωρ bright, beaming as the sun, considered by some to be the original sense in Gr. See Liddell & Scott. Used also by the LXX to translate Heb. khashmal, whence in Vulg. and A.V.)
c1400Destr. Troy xv. 6203 A chariot full choise..the whelis full wheme, all of white aumber. 1430Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xii, Like a foole..That aumber yelowe cheseth for the white. 1611Bible Ezek. i. 4 Out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber [Wyclif electre], out of the midst of the fire.
7. = liquidambar. (The poets vaguely confuse this with senses 1 and 3. See amber-dropping, -weeping, etc. in C 1; amber-varnish in C 2.)
1569J. Sandford Agrippa's Van. Artes 15 The gumme called Amber, groweth out of a tree. 1850Mrs. Browning Comfort Poems I. 328 Let my tears drop like amber.
8. A local name of the plant called St. John's-wort.
1861Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 14 Hypericum perforatum..In N. Kent, one of the common names of the species is Amber.
9. Theatr. An amber-coloured spotlight. Also attrib.
1913A. Bennett Regent ix. 260 The curtain rose... ‘What about that amber, Cosmo?’ Mr. Marriner cried. 1921G. B. Shaw in Times Lit. Suppl. 17 Mar. 178/2 Take your ambers out of your number one batten. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage vii. 90 ‘What's in your perches?’ ‘Ambers, sir.’ Ibid. i. 18 The amber circuits in No. 1 batten.
B. adj. [orig. attrib. use of n. Cf. rose, pink, orange, etc.; also Fr. ambré.]
a. Of the colour and clearness of amber (sense 3), amber-coloured; of a clear yellowish brown.
c1500Almanak ‘for 1386’ 27 Uryne..þat semes aumbre. 1594Greene Orl. Fur. (1861) 111 Where Phœbus dips his amber tresses oft. 1599― George a Greene 63 Those hairs of amber hue. 1610Histrio-mast. ii. 6, I crush out bounty from the amber grape. 1632Milton L'Allegro 61 Robed in flames and amber light. 1671― P.R. iii. 284 Choaspes, amber stream. 1713Lond. & Country Brew. i. (1742) 25 Pale and amber Ale. 1853C. Brontë Villette xvi. (1876) 164 Warm in its amber lamp-light. 1877Bryant Sella 96 The sun Stooped towards the amber west. 1879M. E. Braddon Vixen III. 132 The Duchess's amber drawing-rooms. 1879Tennyson Lover's T. 10 Days Of dewy dawning, and the amber eves.
b. Designating the intermediate cautionary light in road traffic signals, between red (= stop) and green (= go). Also, as n., the amber-coloured light itself; hence fig., an indication of approaching change or danger.
1929Min. Transport Roads Dept. Mem. No. 297 The signal indications should be given in the following order: (1) Red, (2) Red and Amber together, (3) Green, (4) Amber... The purpose of the Amber is to give warning to drivers of vehicles of an impending change from Red to Green or Green to Red. 1933Traffic Signs (Size, Col. and Type) Prov. Regs. §27 (a) Three lights shall be used facing the stream of traffic which the signal is intended to control, one red, one amber and one green. 1937Auden & MacNeice Lett. fr. Iceland 32 And always need a noise, the radio or the city, Traffic and changing lights, crashing the amber. 1956Ann. Reg. 1955 421 The increase from 3 to 3½ per cent...was described as an ‘amber light’ of general warning. 1961A. Wilson Old Men at Zoo iii. 136 In view of Godmanchester's remarks, I regard this as the amber warning. I'm afraid you must make it a must.
C. comb. (chiefly in sense 3, sometimes 1 or 6).
1. General relations:
a. attrib. of material or source, as amber beads, amber studs, amber mouthpiece, etc.;
b. obj. gen., and obj. of pple. or vbl. n., as amber-fishing, amber-dropping, amber-weeping, amber-yielding;
c. similative, as amber-clear, amber-like, amber-solid, amber-yellow;
d. instrumental with pa. pple., as amber-headed, amber-tinged, amber-tinted, amber-tipped, amber-toned; passing into
e. synthetic derivatives, as amber-coloured (of amber colour) amber-foaming, amber-hued, amber-locked (having amber locks), amber-sanded.
1449in Test. Ebor. (1855) II. 156 A peir of awmbur bedis. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 58 With Amber Bracelets, Beades, and all this knau'ry. 1711‘J. Distaff’ Don Sacheverellio 4 The Amber-Head has dropt from his Cane. 1865M. E. Braddon Only a Clod iii. 15 The amber mouthpiece of his pipe. 1620Swetnam Arraigned (1880) 12 Their very breath Is sophisticated with Amber-pellets, and kissing causes.
1637Milton Comus 863 Thy amber-dropping hair. 1596C. Fitzgeffrey Sir F. Drake (1881) 88 Th' amber-weeping Pegase-hoofe-made fount. 1647Crashaw Poems 2 (T.) The soft gold, which Steals from the amber-weeping tree.
1850Marg. Fuller Woman in 19th C. (1862) 207 When thoughts flow through the mind amber-clear and soft.
1949S. Spender Edge of Being 15 The sense felt behind darkened walls, An amber-solid world.
1667H. More Div. Dial. v. x. (1713) 434 This pure amber-like or transparent Gold. 1817Coleridge Sib. Leaves (1862) 226 They're amber-like to me.
1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xxxiv. (1804) 225 An amber-headed cane hung dangling from his wrist.
1866G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. 3 May (1959) 134 Swallows..shewing their amber-tinged breasts. 1895Daily News 20 Dec. 2/3 Allusion was also made to his amber-tinted hair. 1878A. Nesbitt Catal. Glass Vessels S. Kens. Mus. 120 Amber-toned glass.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 88 An Amber coloured Rauen.
1713Lond. & Country Brew. i. (1742) 12 The amber-coloured Malt.
1881Wilde Panthea in Poems 178 The hot and amber-foaming must.
1729Savage Wanderer iii. (Jod.) Yon amber-hued cascade. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. v. 26 Thy own amber-locked, snow-and-rose-bloom Maiden.
1939A. E. Housman Coll. Poems 192 Oh, the pearl seas are yonder, The amber-sanded shore.
2. Special combinations: amber-bush, a head of amber-coloured hair, a youthful head; amber-crowned a. crowned or covered with amber hair; amber-drink, drink of amber colour and transparency; amber fauna, the animals of which the remains are found in amber; amber fishing, fishing or dredging at the bottom of the sea for amber; amber flora, the plants of which specimens are found in amber; amber-forest, the primeval forest from the trees of which amber exuded; amber oil (see A 3); amber pear, a pear with the odour of ambergris, an ambrette; amber-plum, a variety of yellow plum; amber shell, snail = succinea; amber-varnish, made of liquid amber or copal. Also amber-seed, amber-tree, q.v.
1605Sylvester Du Bartas 471 A gray-beards wisedom in an amber-bush. 1580Sidney Arcad. (1622) 425 Bending her amber-crowned head ouer her bedside. a1626Bacon (J.), All your clear amber-drink is flat. 1880Cope's Tobacco Pl. Oct. 531/1 Treating of the Amber Flora and the Amber Fauna. 1828Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 94 The savage Prussians with their amber-fishing. 1854T. R. Jones in Q. Jrnl. Geol. S. X. ii. 4 Twigs of Thuia occidentalis (found in the Amber-flora). Ibid. X. ii. 3 A similar extension in former times of the Amber-forests. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 388 Amber Pear, Muscat Robine, Poir sans Peau. 1629Parkinson Parad. iii. xiii. 578 The Amber plum is a round plum, as yellow on the outside almost as yellow waxe. 1718M. Eales Receipt 25 Take the green Amber Plum, prick it all over with a Pin. 1835W. Kirby Creat. Anim. I. ix. 291 The amber shells, as least one species, is [sic] stated to swim occasionally on the surface of the water. 1858W. Baird Cycl. Nat. Sci. 528/1 Succinea, Amber Snail. 1867J. Hogg Microsc. i. ii. 155 The wood having been previously lightly inked with printers' ink or amber-varnish.
Add:[A.] [III.] 10. Biol. [tr. G. Bernstein: app. named after Mrs. H. Bernstein, mother of a colleague of the scientists by whom the codon was isolated (see H. Bernstein in Amer. Speech (1983) LVIII. 86).] The nonsense codon UAG; also, a mutant fragment of genetic material containing this. Freq. attrib., esp. as amber mutant. Cf. *ochre n. 4.
1963R. H. Epstein et al. in Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol. XXVIII. 375/2 Recently, two types of conditional lethal mutants in bacteriophage T4D have been described and genetically characterized: temperature sensitive (ts) mutants..and amber mutants (am) which form plaques on Escherichia coli CR63 but not on E. coli B. 1965Peacocke & Drysdale Molecular Basis Heredity 169 Further support for the concept of a colinear relation between gene structure and protein structure has been obtained in studies of amber mutants which affect the head-protein of the bacteriophage T4D. 1976Nature 26 Aug. 757/1 The three codons UAG (amber), UAA (ochre), and UGA (opal) serve as signals for polypeptide chain termination during messenger RNA translation in various prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. 1983[see *ochre n. 4].
▸ Freq. with the. Designating an (alcoholic) drink of an amber or light brown colour; (now usually) spec. (chiefly Austral.) designating lager. Esp. in amber fluid, amber liquid. See also amber nectar n. at Additions.
1853G. Lippard Midnight Queen xxxi. 81, I..drank a glass of undoubted champagne—yes, a bottle of the amber liquid. 1872R. Hewitt Coffee 10 Not alone in the East is the amber beverage indispensable. 1884National Police Gaz. 19 Jan. 3/4 The choicest beer..ran like water, and every time the grand old beaker..gave out..it was quickly replenished with another quart of the amber fluid. 1906Truth (Sydney) 22 July 1/3 The amber fluid is the cause why most men amble to the lock-up. 1943H. M. Murphy Strictly for Soldiers 30 Just a quart of amber liquid with a bonzer sort of smell, Like an angel's breath from heaven as the poets often tell. 1990High Life (Brit. Airways) Dec. 91/1 Mobile iceboxes stuffed with Aussie wine and the occasional ‘tinnie’ of amber liquid.
▸ amber nectar n. (a) a liquid or (alcoholic) drink of an amber colour; (b) spec. lager (in later use popularized as an advertising slogan (from 1986) for Foster's lager).
1857‘M. Harland’ Moss-side 90 Piled-up [honey]comb,..which dripped with *amber nectar. 1880Harper's Mag. Nov. 863/2 A swarm of eager urchins..absorb the amber nectar [sc. apple juice] through the intermediate straw. 1898N.Y. Times 12 Jan. 6/6, I want no tricky wine, But amber nectar cling to me... Haste the beer to me! 1962Times 15 Jan. 3/1 Frenchmen..wearing Scottish bonnets and clutching bottles of the amber nectar of the country. 1985Guardian 4 May 9/2 These are..professional consultants anxious to make the honourable members swallow their clients' honeyed line. Supplies of amber nectar do sometimes accompany this ingestion. 1997Gallop! Jan. 47/2 Talking about beer, let's just say that the contents of Blyth's fridge leave us in no doubt about his feelings towards the amber nectar!
▪ II. † ˈamber, n.2 Obs.
[OE. amber, omber, -or, earlier ámbær, cogn. w. OS. émbar, -ber, OHG. einpar, eimpar, eimber, eimer (mod.G. eimer); according to Grimm, f. án one + -ber from beran to bear; though perh. orig. an adaptation of L. amphora, f. Gr. ἀµϕορεύς, assimilated to a Teut. form and meaning. App. not used in Eng. since 1100; but preserved in old documents in L. form ambra, and hence in Spelman, Blount, and other Dicts.]
1. ‘A vessel with one handle’; a pail, bucket, pitcher, urn.
c700Epinal Gl. (O.E.T. 106) Urna, ambær; Erfurt Gl. ombar; Corpus Gl. amber. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xiv. 13 Ombor full wætres [Vulg. laguenam aquæ; Ags. Gosp. wæter-flaxan]. Ibid. Luke xxii. 10 Ombor full wætres [Vulg. amphoram aquæ; Ags. Gosp. wæter-buce].
2. A liquid measure; a pitcher, a cask.
804–29Cod. Dipl. No. 460, xxx ómbra gódes Uuelesces aloþ, ðæt limpnað to xv mittum. c950Lindisf. Gosp. Luke xvi. 6 Hundteantih ombras oeles [Vulg. cados; Ags. Gosp. sestra; Hatton sestres]. c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wright Voc. 24/2 Batus, amber.
3. A dry measure of four bushels. (See Introd. to Domesday I. 133.)
c885K. ælfred Oros. i. i. §15 Tyn ambra feðra. 1691Blount Law Dict., Ambra, a Vessel among our Saxons..I have seen in an old Deed, mention of Ambra Salis. 1872E. Robertson Hist. Ess. ii. 68 The amber..was a measure of 4 bushels in the 13th century by the London Standard.
▪ III. † ˈamber, n.3
[Cf. OFr. armaire, aumaire.]
Obs. form of ambry.
1593Rites & Mon. Ch. Durham (1842) 2 The severall lockers or ambers for the safe keepinge of the vestments.
▪ IV. amber, v. rare exc. in pa. pple.|ˈæmbə(r)|
ambered.
[f. the n. Cf. Fr. ambrer, pa. pple. ambré.]
1. To perfume with ambergris.
1616Beaum. & Flet. Cust. Country iii. ii, Be sure The wines be lusty, high, and full of spirit, And amber'd all. a1648Digby Closet Opened (1677), You may strew Ambred Sugar upon it.
2. To make amber-coloured.
1809J. Barlow Columb. iv. 548 The sand-sown beach, the rocky bluff repays The faint effulgence with their amber'd rays.
3. To preserve in amber.
1882H. Merivale Faucit of B. II. ii. ii. 155 Like the ambered fly..incessantly wondering why he was anywhere. |