embroider
[em-broi-der]
- to decorate with ornamental needlework.
- to produce or form in needlework.
- to adorn or embellish rhetorically, especially with ornate language or fictitious details: He embroidered the account of the shipwreck to hold his listeners' interest.
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- to do embroidery.
- to add embellishments; exaggerate (often followed by on or upon).
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Origin of embroider
Synonyms
See more synonyms for embroider on Thesaurus.com3. elaborate, exaggerate, color, fancify.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for embroider
Contemporary Examples
He does not feel the need to embroider every note with a facial expression or a flick of the wrist.
It also takes years of training to be able to sew, embroider, bead, and otherwise embellish these clothes.
Chanel, Armani, and Givenchy Present Their Haute-Couture Collections in ParisRobin Givhan
July 4, 2012
When Christian tries to speak for himself and says "I love you," Roxane instructs him to "Embroider it."
Historical Examples
Maidens of the first families were selected to embroider the sacred peplus.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
I learnt to sing rondeaux and to embroider handkerchiefs for my mother.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
They agreed to embroider a pair of slippers for her—to do the work themselves.
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, CompleteAlbert Bigelow Paine
The girls used to sit about indoors and embroider—oh, everlastingly!
Four DaysHetty Hemenway
You see at home, when I get my work done, I knit or crochet or embroider.
Maw's VacationEmerson Hough
embroider
- to do decorative needlework (upon)
- to add fictitious or fanciful detail to (a story)
- to add exaggerated or improbable details to (an account of an event, etc)
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Word Origin
C15: from Old French embroder; see em- en- 1, broider
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
Word Origin and History for embroider
v.
late 14c., from Anglo-French enbrouder, from en- "in" (see en- (1)) + broisder "embroider," from Frankish *brozdon, from Proto-Germanic *bruzdajanan. Spelling with -oi- is from c.1600, perhaps by influence of broiden, irregular alternative Middle English past participle of braid (v.). Related: Embroidered; embroidering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper