English
embrace
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ɛmˈbɹeɪs/, /ɪm-/
  • (GA) IPA: /ɛmˈbɹeɪs/, /əm-/
Verb

embrace (embraces, present participle embracing; past and past participle embraced)

  1. (transitive) To clasp#Verb|clasp (someone or each other) in the arm#Noun|arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug#Noun|hug.
    Synonyms: fall on someone's neck, Thesaurus:embrace
    • c. 1597, [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fovrth; […], quarto edition, London: Printed by P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, OCLC 932916628 ↗, [Act V, scene ii] ↗:
      I will imbrace him with a ſouldiour's arme, / That he ſhall ſhrinke vnder my curteſie, [...]
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Acts 20:1 ↗, column 1:
      And after the vprore was ceaſed, Paul called vnto him the diſciples, and imbraced them, & departed, for to go into Macedonia.
    • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], chapter VI, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […] in Two Books: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], OCLC 868004604 ↗, book I, page 14 ↗:
      [...] Love, though not wholly blind, as Poets wrong him, yet having but one eye, as being born an Archer aiming, and that eye not the quickeſt in this dark region here below, which is not Loves proper ſphere, partly out of the ſimplicity, and credulity which is native to him, often deceiv'd, imbraces and comforts him with theſe obvious and ſuborned ſtriplings, as if they were his Mothers own Sons, for ſo he thinks them, while they ſuttly keep themſelves moſt on his blind ſide.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, lines 772–774:
      Theſe lulld by Nightingales imbraceing ſlept, / And on thir naked limbs the flourie roof / Showrd Roſes, which the Morn, repair'd.
    • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801 ↗, page 54 ↗:
      She clapped her hands and laughed, and tried to touch his head; but being too little, laughed again, and stood on tiptoe to embrace him. Then she began to drag him, in her childish eagerness, towards the door; and he, nothing loth to go, accompanied her.
  2. (transitive, figuratively) To seize (something) eagerly or with alacrity; to accept or take up with cordiality; to welcome#Verb|welcome.
    I wholeheartedly embrace the new legislation.
    • c. 1596–1598, W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: Printed by J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, OCLC 24594216 ↗, [Act I, scene i] ↗:
      I take it your owne buſineſſe calls#English|cals on you, / And you embrace the occaſion to depart.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981 ↗, Hebrews 11:13 ↗, column 1:
      Theſe all died in faith, not hauing received the promiſes, but hauing ſeene them a farre off, and were perſwaded of them, and embraced them, and confeſſed that they were ſtrangers and pilgrims on the earth.
    • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: Printed for Nath[aniel] Ponder […], OCLC 228725984 ↗; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, OCLC 5190338 ↗, page 164 ↗:
      Let Ignorance a little while now muſe / On what is ſaid, and let him not refuſe / Good counſel to imbrace, leſt he remain / Still Ignorant of what's the chiefeſt gain.
    • 1820, Walter Scott, chapter XIII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume II, Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662 ↗, page 227 ↗:
      Thou hast shown me the means of revenge, and be assured I will embrace them.
  3. (transitive, figuratively) To submit to; to undergo.
    Synonyms: accept
    • c. 1597, [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fovrth; […], quarto edition, London: Printed by P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, OCLC 932916628 ↗, [Act V, scene v] ↗:
      What I haue done my ſafety vrg'd me to: / And I embrace this fortune patiently, / Since not to be auoided it fals on me.
  4. (transitive, also, figuratively) To encircle; to enclose, to encompass.
    Synonyms: entwine, surround
    • 1937, Robert Byron, “Gumbad-i-Kabus (200 ft.), April 24th”, in The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan & Co., OCLC 776568094 ↗, part V, page 228 ↗:
      But it was not this that conveyed the size of the steppe so much as the multiplicity of these nomadic encampments, cropping up wherever the eye rested, yet invariably separate by a mile or two from their neighbours. There were hundreds of them, and the sight, therefore, seemed to embrace hundreds of miles.
  5. (transitive, figuratively) To enfold, to include (ideas, principles, etc.); to encompass.
    Natural philosophy embraces many sciences.
    • 1697, “The Second Book of the {{w”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 403869432 ↗, lines 59–60, page 73 ↗:
      Not that my ſong, in ſuch a ſcanty ſpace, / So large a Subject fully can embrace: [...]
  6. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To fasten on, as armour#Noun|armour.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book II, canto I, stanza 26, page 194 ↗:
      VVho ſeeing him from far ſo fierce to pricke, / His warlike armes about him gan embrace, / And in the reſt his ready ſpeare did ſticke; [...]
  7. (transitive, figuratively, obsolete) To accept (someone) as a friend#Noun|friend; to accept (someone's) help#Noun|help gladly.
    • c. 1608–1609, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene vii], page 25 ↗, column 1:
      He bears himſelfe more proudlier, / Euen to my perſon, then I thought he would / When firſt I did embrace him.
  8. (transitive, law, figuratively, obsolete) To attempt to influence#Verb|influence (a court#Noun|court, jury, etc.) corruptly; to practise embracery.
    • 1769, William Blackstone, “Of Offences against Public Justice”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford: Printed at the Clarendon Press, OCLC 65350522 ↗, paragraph 18, page 140 ↗:
      The puniſhment for the perſon embracing is by fine and impriſonment; and, for the juror ſo embraced, if it be by taking money, the puniſhment is (by divers ſtatutes of the reign of Edward III) perpetual infamy, impriſonment for a year, and forfeiture of the tenfold value.
Conjugation


Conjugation of embrace

infinitive (to) embrace
present tense past tense
1st-person singular embraceembraced
2nd-person singularembracest*embraced, embracedst*
3rd-person singularembraces, embraceth* embraced#English|embraced
plural embrace
subjunctive embrace
imperative embrace —
participle> participlesembracingembraced
* Archaic or obsolete.

Translations Translations Noun

embrace (plural embraces)

  1. An act#Noun|act of put#Verb|putting arm#Noun|arms around someone and bringing the person close#Adjective|close to the chest#Noun|chest; a hug#Noun|hug.
    • c. 1591–1595, [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Iuliet. […] (Second Quarto), London: Printed by Thomas Creede, for Cuthbert Burby, […], published 1599, OCLC 222309388 ↗, [Act V, scene iii] ↗:
      [E]yes, looke your laſt, / Armes take your laſt embrace: and lips, O you / The doores of breath, ſeale with a righteous kiſſe / A dateleſſe bargain to ingroſſing death: [...]
    • c. 1613–1616, Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “The Scornful Lady, a Comedy”, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies. […], [part 1], London: Printed by J[ohn] Macock [and H. Hills], for John Martyn, Henry Herringman, and Richard Marriot, published 1679, OCLC 1015511273 ↗, Act III, scene i, page 72 ↗, column 1:
      That Gentleman I mean to make the model of my Fortunes, and in his chaſt imbraces keep alive the memory of my loſt lovely Loveleſe: he is ſomewhat like him too.
    • 1817 December, [Jane Austen], chapter XIII, in Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. [...] With a Biographical Notice of the Author. In Four Volumes, volume II, London: John Murray, […], 1818, OCLC 318384910 ↗, pages 269–270 ↗:
      [A] long and affectionate embrace supplied the place of language in bidding each other adieu; [...]
    • 1907, Robert William Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗, page 15 ↗:
      [A] delighted shout from the children swung him toward the door again. His sister, Mrs. Gerard, stood there in carriage gown and sables, radiant with surprise. "Phil! You! Exactly like you, Philip, to come strolling in from the antipodes—dear fellow!" recovering from the fraternal embrace and holding both lapels of his coat in her gloved hands.
  2. (figuratively) An enclosure partially or fully surrounding someone or something.
    • 1882, Bret Harte, “[Flip: A California Romance] Chapter II”, in Flip; and Found at Blazing Star, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], OCLC 1525509 ↗, page 44 ↗:
      When he reached the ridge the outlying fog crept across the summit, caught him in its embrace, and wrapped him from her gaze.
    • 1896, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Evil-looking Boatmen”, in The Island of Doctor Moreau (Heinemann’s Colonial Library of Popular Fiction; 52), London: William Heinemann, OCLC 892648905 ↗; republished as The Island of Doctor Moreau: A Possibility, New York, N.Y.: Stone & Kimball, 1896, OCLC 660486 ↗, page 48 ↗:
      We were now within the embrace of a broad bay flanked on either hand by a low promontory.
  3. (figuratively) full#Adjective|Full acceptance (of something).
    • 1932, William Faulkner, chapter 19, in Light in August, [New York, N.Y.]: Harrison Smith & Robert Haas, OCLC 644581344 ↗; republished London: Chatto & Windus, 1933, OCLC 154633965 ↗, pages 424–425 ↗:
      And it was the white blood which sent him to the minister, which rising in him for the last and final time, sent him against all reason and all reality, into the embrace of a chimera, a blind faith in something read in a printed Book.
  4. (figuratively) An act of enfolding or including.
    • 1913 November, Rabindranath Tagore, “The Relation of the Individual to the Universe”, in Sādhanā: The Realisation of Life, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, OCLC 1114470 ↗, page 8 ↗:
      In India men are enjoined to be fully awake to the fact that they are in the closest relation to things around them, body and soul, and that they are to hail the morning sun, the flowing water, the fruitful earth, as the manifestation of the same living truth which holds them in its embrace.
Translations

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