Embosses

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Produces a raised pattern or design on a material's surface by pressing or stamping
2. Forms a textured, elevated decoration on objects such as paper or metal through embossing
3. Impresses a design that stands out in relief, enhancing the surface appearance

Etymology: The verb "emboss" is built from two parts: the prefix "em-", meaning "in" or "into", and "boss", an old word for a bump or lump. To emboss something is to press a raised design into it so that it swells outward. The idea comes from the Old French "embocer", which combined "em-" with "boce", meaning "swelling", a word that traced back to a Germanic root meaning "to beat" or "to knock". The English word has a second, unrelated ancestor. Middle English "embosen" meant a hunted deer that had become exhausted, and it grew from an Old French word for woodland, "bos". Hunters' language gave the word a wild side: to make a hunted animal foam at the mouth was also described with this verb. The foam flecks were likened to decorative bosses, so the two strands ran together.

Synonyms: impresses, stamps, sculpts, carves, raises

Antonyms: flatters, smooths, erases, removes, diminishes