embay

[ em-bey ]

/ ɛmˈbeɪ /

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verb (used with object)

to enclose in or as if in a bay; surround or envelop.

to form into a bay.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of embay

First recorded in 1575–85; em-¹ + bay¹

OTHER WORDS FROM embay

un·em·bayed, adjective

Words nearby embay

embassage, embassy, embattle, embattled, embattlement, embay, embayment, Embden, Embden-Meyerhof pathway, embed, embedded

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use embay in a sentence

An inspection of the barriers shows that they were incompetent to embay the ice: they are scarred and fluted from bottom to top.
Hours of Exercise in the Alps|John Tyndall
He was now at that point where the Cabo de la Cruz on the south and this archipelago in the northwest embay a broad gulf.
Christopher Columbus and How He Received and Imparted the Spirit of Discovery|Justin Winsor
The pent-up emotion had swollen and swollen inside the young thing till the dam could no longer embay it.
Desperate Remedies|Thomas Hardy

British Dictionary definitions for embay

embay

/ (ɪmˈbeɪ) /

verb (tr; usually passive)

to form into a bay

to enclose in or as if in a bay

(esp of the wind) to force (a ship, esp a sailing ship) into a bay

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012