imbrue
Americanverb (used with object)
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to stain.
He refused to imbrue his hands with the blood of more killing.
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to impregnate or imbue (usually followed by with orin ).
They are imbrued with the follies of youth.
verb
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to stain, esp with blood
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to permeate or impregnate
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of imbrue
1400–50; late Middle English enbrewen < Middle French embreuver to cause to drink in, soak, drench < Vulgar Latin *imbiberāre, derivative of Latin imbibere to imbibe
Explanation
To imbrue is to stain or saturate, the way water imbrues your jeans when you walk down the street in a rainstorm. Use this old-fashioned, literary verb when you need a fancy way to say "dampen" or "permeate." It's also frequently used in literature to specifically refer to things stained with blood: "The battle will only serve to imbrue their swords with blood." The word comes from the Old French embruer, "to moisten."
Vocabulary lists containing imbrue
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrue?
From King Henry IV, Part 2 by William Shakespeare
In another minute," said Berry, "I shall imbrue this omelet with tears.
From Jonah and Co. by Dornford Yates
If I had continued to imbrue myself either in bloody crimes or the fierce drunkenness of the life of the galleys, this salutary change would never have come over me I know full well.
From The Mysteries of Paris, Volume 4 of 6 by Eugène Sue
Men generally do not specially desire to imbrue their hands in the blood of other men.
From The Life of Cicero Volume One by Anthony Trollope
He took a comprehensive glance about the room; then, extracting a dish from he closet, proceeded to imbrue his hands in the strawberries' blood.
From A Modern Cinderella Or, the Little Old Shoe and Other Stories by Louisa May Alcott
Trained by years of experience in a Court where intrigue imbrued the very atmosphere, ordinarily he was equal to any emergency.
From Beatrix of Clare by Clarence F. Underwood
Were my hands imbrued in this precious blood?
From Edgar Huntly or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker by Charles Brockden Brown
Whether or not the hand of Laskowicz is imbrued in this the future will show.
From Whirlpools A Novel of Modern Poland by Henryk Sienkiewicz
Sunday morning; The Southern Cross in digger's gore imbrued, Was torn away, and left the diggers mourning!
From The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni
It had stripped its mistress clean of all feeble accomplishments; her hands were imbrued neither with ink nor with water-color.
From The Spoils of Poynton by Henry James
Now she saw that the woman’s oily diplomacy was only for public use, and that all the while she was imbruing the minds of the little children with the dye of her own thoughts.
From The Cup of Fury A Novel of Cities and Shipyards by Henry Raleigh
Barnwell, instead of imbruing his hands in innocent blood, even "in jest," became the most active agent in rescuing his hapless audience from their perilous situation.
From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 10 by Various
In strongly asserting this traditional law, the Inquisitors imagined that they thereby freed themselves from all responsibility, and kept from imbruing their hands in bloodshed.
From The Inquisition A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church by Bertrand L. (Bertrand Louis) Conway
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