umber meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

umber

noun

UK /ˈʌmbə/ · US /ˈʌmbɚ/

Etymology From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

A brown clay, somewhat darker than ochre, which contains iron and manganese oxides.

I'll put myself in poor and mean attire, And with a kind of umber smirch my face; The like do you; so shall we pass along, And never stir assailants.c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], lines 518-21:

Alternative Alternative form of umbrere.

A grayling.

A dusky brown African wading bird (Scopus umbretta) allied to the shoebill and herons; a hamerkop.

Derived terms: burnt umber, Cologne umber, Cumbrian umber, olivaceous-umber, raw umber, umber bird, umbery, umbrinous

umber

adj

Etymology From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

Of a reddish brown colour, like that of the pigment.

Their harps are of the umber shade / That hides the blush of waking day.1819, Joseph Rodman Drake, The Culprit Fay:

umber

verb

Etymology From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.

To give a reddish-brown colour to.

Armies o'er armies heap'd, the locusts came, Like clouds in autumn umbering all the sky […]1807, Charles Hoyle, Exodus:

Derived terms: burnt umber, mottled umber, umber moth

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.