embellishment

[Eng. embellish; -ment.) 1. The act of embellishing, beautifying, or adorning. 2. The state of being embellished, beautified, or adorned. 3. That which embellishes, beautifies, or adorns; anything which adds beauty, elegance, or grace; an ornament, a grace, an adornment, an enrich ment. "We therefore pleased extol thy song, Though various yet complete, Rich in embellishment , as strong And learned as 'tis sweet." Cowper: To Dr. Darwin. IMG:content-0906.png:[blocks in formation] "The heavenly fire that lay concealed Beneath the sleeping embers." Thomson: Castle of Indolence , i. 59. ěm-ber (2), s. & a. [A. S. ymbren, ymbrine, ymbryne a round course, a revolution, a circuit, an anniversary, from ymb , ymbe, emb, embe = about, around, and ryne, rine=a running, a course, a race, a course of years, life; rinnan =to run. From this derivation it is patent that the belief that ember days were so called from penitents sitting in embers or ashes at those seasons was entirely erroneous.] (For def. see etym.) ember-days, s. pl. Ecclesias. Calendar : Certain days set apart for prayer and fasting, one special theme of supplication being that the ble ing of God may descend on the crops, and consequently that there may be plenty in the land. Stated days of this character began to be observed in the third century, an injunction to that effect having been given by Popo Calixtus, but at first there was no unity over the Christian world as to the precise days. In A. D. 1095 the Council of Placentia diffused them over the year, and enacted that in all churches the spring ember-days should be the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent; those of summer the same days of the week after Whit Sunday; those of autumn the same days of the week after the feast of the Holy Cro , Sept. 14; and those of winter the corresponding week days after the feast of St. Lucia, Dec. 13. ember-eves, s. pl. Eccles. Calendar: The evenings immediately preceding the several ember-days. "It hath been sung at festivals, On ember- eves and holy ales." Shakesp.: Pericles i. (Chorus.) ember-fast, s. 1629 Eccles.: One of the periods at which ember-days occur. ember-tide, s. Eccles.: The season at which ember-days occur. ember-weeks, s. pl. Eccles. Calendar : The several weeks in which the ember-days occur. ember-goose, imber-goose, immer-goose, s . Ornith.: Colymbus glacial is , a diver, more commonly called the Great Northern Diver or Loon. "The imber - goose unskilled to fly, Must be content to glide along Where seal and sea-dog list his song." Scott: Pirate, ch. xxi.