Forms: 1 ǽmerʓe, 4 aym-, em, eemer, 5 eymbre, -bery, (6 pl. embries, emmers, Sc. amer-, ammer-, amyrris,) 6–7 imber, 9 dial. yummer. [OE. ǽmerʓe wk. fem., corresponds to OHG. eimuria (MHG. eimere), ON. eimyrja (Da. emmer, Sw. mörja):—OTeut. *aimuzjôn-; for the suffix cf. Goth. jukuzi (stem jukuzjâ-) yoke. The ME. forms with ay- ey- point to adoption from ON. rather than to descent from OE. The disappearance of the vowel of the original second syllable occasioned the insertion of the euphonic b, normal between m and r.]

1

  1.  A small piece of live coal or wood in a half-extinguished fire. Chiefly in pl.: The smoldering ashes of a fire.

2

c. 1000.  Ags. Leechdoms, III. 30. Nim ðu clatan moran … & berec hy on hate æmerʓean.

3

c. 1390[?].  Form of Cury, in Warner, Antiq. Culin., 15. Take chyches, and … lay hem in hoot aymers.

4

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., X. ix. (Tollem. MS.). Also fyry emeris [1535 emers; 1582 embers] is rauischid and meuid upwarde by rauischynge of wynde.

5

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 136. Eymbre, hote aschys [1499 eymery or synder, hote asshes], pruna.

6

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, VI. iii. 137. The reliquies and the dry ammeris syne Thai slokkin.

7

1555.  W. Watreman, Fardle Facions, I. v. E ij b. They fiede them [children] with … rootes, rosted in the embries.

8

1600.  Hakluyt, Voy. (1810), III. 258. They heat it [flesh] a little upon imbers of coales.

9

1632.  Milton, Penseroso, 79. Glowing embers … Teach light to counterfeit a gloom.

10

1719.  Young, Busiris, I. i. (1757), 13. Sleeping embers which will rise in flames.

11

1838–42.  Arnold, Hist. Rome, II. xxxvii. 475. Only the expiring embers of a great fire.

12

1845.  Poe, Raven. Each separate dying ember Wrought its ghost upon the floor.

13

1874.  Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. cii. 3. The last comforting ember is quenched.

14

  2.  fig.

15

1513.  More, Edw. V. (1641), Ep. Ded. 3. To revive that which hath for a long time been raked up in the embers of oblivion.

16

1650.  R. Stapylton, Strada’s Low-C. Warres, I. 20. But the secret lay not long in the Embers.

17

1787.  Bentham, Def. Usury, 178. Success does not … arise out of the embers of ill success.

18

1874.  Bancroft, Footpr. Time, i. 97. The embers of independence … broke forth in war.

19

  3.  Comb. ember-bread (see quot.; but the statement is app. a fiction to explain EMBER-DAYS.)

20

1681.  Sir G. Wharton, Fasts & Fest., Wks. (1683), 30. A Cake baked under the Embers or Ashes, which was called … Ember-bread.

21

1796.  Pegge, Anonym. (1809), 135.

22