embody
Etymology

From em- + body.

Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ɪmˈbɒdi/
Verb

embody (embodies, present participle embodying; simple past and past participle embodied)

  1. (transitive) To represent in a physical or concrete form; to incarnate or personify.
    As the car salesman approached, wearing a plaid suit and slicked-back hair, he seemed to embody sleaze.
    • 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
      The soul, while it is embodied, can no more be divided from sin.
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC ↗, page 48 ↗:
      Francesca shook her head as she answered, "Ah! expectations are such unreasonable things! It was impossible for even France to realise the dreams of youth and solitude! What ever embodies our idea of perfection?"
  2. (transitive) To represent in some other form, such as a code of laws.
    The US Constitution aimed to embody the ideals of diverse groups of people, from Puritans to Deists.
    The principle was recognized by some of the early Greek philosophers who embodied it in their systems.
  3. (transitive) To comprise or include as part of a cohesive whole; to be made up of.
    • 1962, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, page 1261:
      For use in a nursery for cradling a baby to sleep, a baby cradler comprising, in combination, a stand embodying a mobile base, uprights attached to and rising perpendicularly from the base and having axially aligned bearings, [...]
  4. (intransitive) To unite in a body or mass.
    • 1794, Robert Southey, Wat Tyler. A Dramatic Poem. In Three Acts, London: J[ohn] M‘Creery, […] for Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, […], published 1817, →OCLC ↗, Act III, pages 55–56 ↗:
      Nay, my good friend—the people will remain / Embodied peaceably, till Parliament / Confirm the royal charter: tell your king so: / We will await the Charter's confirmation, / Meanwhile comporting ourselves orderly / As peaceful citizens, not risen in tumult, / But to redress their evils.
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