embark
verbEtymology From em- + bark.
1
To cover or enclose with bark.
embark
verbUK /ɪmˈbɑːk/ · US /ɪmˈbɑɹk/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French embarquer, from em- + barque (“small ship”). Compare with Portuguese embarcar, Spanish abarcar.
1
To go aboard a craft or vessel for transportation.
- All passengers please embark now.
- [S]ee them embarqued; / And tell me if the VVinds and Seas befriend them.1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 58:
1 more example
- It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC:
2
To start, begin.
- Phil embarked on his journey yesterday.
- "This is uncommonly nice of you, Nora," he said, before she had had the chance to embark on any explanation; […]1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
3
To cause to go on board a vessel or boat; to put on shipboard.
4
To engage, enlist, or invest (as persons, money, etc.) in any affair.
- He embarked his fortune in trade.
- It was the reputation of the sect upon which St. Paul embarked his salvation.1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
1 more example
- Nor seek to get his patron's favour, by embarking himself in the factions of the family; to enquire after domestic simulties, their sports or affections.1641, Ben Jonson, Discoveries Made upon Men and Matter:
- Synonyms
- board, make sail, take shipping
- Antonyms
- disembark
- Derived terms
- disembarkation, disembarkee, embarkation, embarkee, embarker, re-embark, reembark