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 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
This strange affray, What can it mean, magnanimous Prince? would you So bright a blade imbrue In blood that age already doth congeal?
From Life Is a Dream by MacCarthy, Denis Florence
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
The citizen of heaven knew that it was his duty to 'hunt Sarmatians' on earth, though he was not obliged to imbrue his hands with 'Cæsarism.'
From Outspoken Essays by Inge, William Ralph
What! shall we have incision? shall we imbrue?
From King Henry IV, Part 2 by Shakespeare, William
Lo, Phædra, Procris, Eriphyle there, Baring the breast by filial hands imbrued, Evadne, and Pasiphaë, and fair Laodamia in the crowd he viewed, 523 And Cæneus, maid, then man, and now a maid renewed.
From The Æneid of Virgil Translated into English Verse by E. Fairfax Taylor by Taylor, Edward Fairfax
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 Underwood, Clarence F.
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
The historian Zosimus maliciously asserts, that the emperor had imbrued his hands in the blood of his eldest son, before he publicly renounced the gods of Rome and of his ancestors.
From History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2 by Milman, Henry Hart
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)
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
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)
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
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.
