Obs. [OE. amber, omber, -or, earlier ámbær, cogn. w. OS. émbar, -ber, OHG. einpar, eimpar, eimber, eimer (mod.G. eimer); according to Grimm, f. án one + -ber from beran to bear; though perh. orig. an adaptation of L. amphora, f. Gr. ἀμφορεύς, assimilated to a Teut. form and meaning. App. not used in Eng. since 1100; but preserved in old documents in L. form ambra, and hence in Spelman, Blount and other Dicts.]

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  1.  ‘A vessel with one handle’; a pail, bucket, pitcher, urn.

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c. 700.  Epinal Gl. (O.E.T. 106), Urna, ambær; Erfurt Gl. ombar; Corpus Gl. amber.

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c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Mark xiv. 13. Ombor full wætres [Vulg. laguenam aquæ; Ags. Gosp. wæter-flaxan]. Ibid., Luke xxii. 10. Ombor full wætres [Vulg. amphoram aquæ; Ags. Gosp. wæter-buce].

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  2.  A liquid measure; a pitcher, a cask.

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804–29.  Cod. Dipl. No. 460. xxx ómbra gódes Uuelesces aloþ, ðæt limpnað to xv mittum.

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c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Luke xvi. 6. Hundteantih ombras oeles [Vulg. cados; Ags. Gosp. sestra; Hatton sestres].

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c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gloss., in Wright, Voc., 24/2. Batus, amber.

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  3.  A dry measure of four bushels. (See Introd. to Domesday, I. 133.)

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c. 885.  K. Ælfred, Oros., I. i. § 15. Tyn ambra feðra.

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1691.  Blount, Law Dict., Ambra, a Vessel among our Saxons … I have seen in an old Deed, mention of Ambra Salis.

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1872.  E. Robertson, Hist. Ess., II. 68. The amber … was a measure of 4 bushels in the 13th century by the London Standard.

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