AMBER • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Amber

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/ˈæmbər/ Listen

adjective

Amber adj.

1.

Consisting of amber; made of amber. "Amber bracelets."

2.

Resembling amber, especially in color; amber-colored. "The amber morn."

noun

Amber n.

1.

(Min.) A yellowish translucent resin resembling copal, found as a fossil in alluvial soils, with beds of lignite, or on the seashore in many places. It takes a fine polish, and is used for pipe mouthpieces, beads, etc., and as a basis for a fine varnish. By friction, it becomes strongly electric. Note: Amber is classified as a fossil resin, being typically of ancient origin, having solidified from the exudates of certain trees millions of years ago. Many pieces are found with insects embedded, the insects having been trapped by the resin while they were alive. The insects are often very well preserved, due to the antimicrobial action of components of the amber. It typically contains from 5 to 8 percent of succinic acid. "Baltic amber" has been mined for centuries in the region of Poland formerly called East Prussia, and is the variety used in most jewelry made in Poland and Russia. The Baltic strata containing amber extend under the sea, and amber beads may be found there deposited by waves along the shore. Amber was known to the ancient Greeks. The name "electron" comes from the Latin word for amber, electrum, derived from the Greek word, elektron (see electric), due to the electric charge that amber takes when rubbed, as with cat fur. Although at one time used in fine varnishes, it no longer has any commercial value for that purpose, being used mostly in jewelry. Significant deposits are also found in the Carribean region, and smaller amounts in various other places. The notion, that DNA sufficiently intact to recreate extinct animals might be extracted from amber, was the basis for Michael Crichton's novel "Jurassic Park", but has as yet (1997) not been demonstrated to be possible.

2.

Amber color, or anything amber-colored; a clear light yellow; as, the amber of the sky.

3.

Ambergris. (Obs.) "You that smell of amber at my charge."

4.

The balsam, liquidambar.

Black amber, and old and popular name for jet.

verb

Amber v. t. (past & past part. ambered)

1.

To scent or flavor with ambergris; as, ambered wine.

2.

To preserve in amber; as, an ambered fly.

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Etymology of 'Amber'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Amber" Quotes from Famous Books

... evening, the aspect of the bay being grand, lit up as it was by the golden light of the setting sun. Distant windows glowed like fire; the rugged Cornish hills were like amber; and sea and sky were ...

— Menhardoc • George Manville Fenn

... timmerman of Amsterdam, and curiously carved about the arms and feet into exact imitations of gigantic eagle's claws. Instead of a scepter, he swayed a long Turkish pipe, wrought with jasmine and amber, which had been presented to a stadtholder of Holland at the conclusion of a treaty with one of the petty Barbary powers. In this stately chair would he sit, and this magnificent pipe would he smoke, shaking his right knee with a constant ...

— Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor - Volume I • Various

... Marchandise to be conueied by land to the citie of Marocco: which being done, and hauing refreshed our selues with victuals and water, we went to the second port called Santa Cruz, where we discharged the rest of our goods, being good quantitie of linnen and woollen cloth, corall, amber, Iet, and diuers other things well accepted of the Moores. In which road we found a French ship, which not knowing whether it were warre or peace betweene England and France, drewe her selfe as neere vnder the towne wals as she could ...

— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of - The English Nation, Vol. 11 • Richard Hakluyt

... consecrated to geology and the kindred sciences, with what ability and success, his published writings and his well-earned reputation at home and abroad may eloquently testify. Among the subjects upon which he wrote are, amber of Cape Sable, Maryland; the minerals of Missouri; five reports on the geology of Tennessee; meteoric iron from Tennessee and Alabama; a shower of red matter in Tennessee; meteorites, ...

— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various

... stood, just as he had left it, its white front gleaming against the black woods, then yellow and brown with autumn, but now only black, or with a faint amber shadow running through them, preparatory to the green of spring. Between lay the beautiful loch, looking ten times more beautiful than ever to eyes which had not seen it for many long months. How it danced ...

— A Noble Life • Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

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