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:
He took a comprehensive glance about the room; then, extracting a dish from the closet, proceeded to imbrue his hands in the strawberries' blood.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 36, October, 1860 by Various
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 Alcott, Louisa May
In another minute," said Berry, "I shall imbrue this omelet with tears.
From Jonah and Co. by Yates, Dornford
What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrue?
From King Henry IV, Part 2 by Shakespeare, William
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 Sue, Eugène
Their hands, then—unless the present ruddying of female fingernails is the revival of an old fashion—were not pink-tipped, save, perhaps, in the way of health; nor imbrued, except in soapsuds.
From She Stands Accused by MacClure, Victor
Deluded by the notion that I was playing with a fancy, I was suddenly aroused to find myself imbrued in facts.
From David Poindexter's Disappearance, and Other Tales by Hawthorne, Julian
No battle-pike his march imbrued, Unarmed he went midst martial mails, The footsore felt their hopes renewed To hear his homely tales.
From The Poets' Lincoln Tributes in Verse to the Martyred President by Oldroyd, Osborn H. (Osborn Hamiline)
Whether or not the hand of Laskowicz is imbrued in this the future will show.
From Whirlpools A Novel of Modern Poland by Sienkiewicz, Henryk
My hands shall never be imbrued in the blood of my benefactor.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 02 by Edgeworth, Maria
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 Conway, Bertrand L. (Bertrand Louis)
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 Raleigh, Henry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
