Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IM-BRI-CA'TION, n.

A concave indenture, like that of tile; tiling. Derham.

IM-BROG'LIO, n. [imbrolio; It.]

1. [1844] In the drama, an intricate, complicated plot.
2. [1841] Intricacy; a complicated plot.

IM-BROWN', v.t. [in and brown.]

1. To make brown; to darken; to obscure.
2. To darken the color of; to make dirty. The foot grows black that was with dirt imbrown'd. Gay.
3. To tan; to darken the complexion.

IM-BROWN'ED, pp.

Made brown; darkened; tanned.

IM-BROWN'ING, pp.

Rendering brown; darkening; tanning.

IM-BRUE', v.t. [imbru'; Gr. εμβρεχω, to moisten; εν and βρεχω. Hence it is allied to embrocate, and Sp. embriagar, to intoxicate. See Ebriety, Brook, and Rain.]

1. To wet or moisten; to soak; to drench in a fluid, chiefly in blood. Whose arrows in my blood their wings imbrue. Sandys. Lucius pities the offenders, / That would imbrue their hands in Cato's blood. Addison.
2. To pour out liquor. [Obs.] Spenser.

IM-BRU'ED, pp.

Wet; moistened; drenched.,

IM-BRU'ING, ppr.

Wetting; moistening; drenching.

IM-BRUTE', v.i.

To sink to the state of a brute. The soul grows clotted by contagion, / Imbodies and imbrutes, till she quite lose / The divine property of her first being. Milton's Comus, v. 466. Thus also Satan speaks of the debasement and corruption of his original divine essence. Mix'd with bestial slime, / This essence to incarnate and imbrute, / That to the highth of deity aspir'd. Parad. Lost, 9. 165.

IM-BRUTE', v.t. [in and brute.]

To degrade to the state of a brute; to reduce to brutality. And mix with bestial slime / This essence to incarnate and imbrute. Milton.

IM-BRUT'ED, pp.

Degraded to brutism.

IM-BRUT'ING, ppr.

Reducing to brutishness.

IM-BUE', v.t. [imbu'; L. imbuo; in and the root of Eng. buck; to buck cloth, that is, to dip, drench or steep in water.]

1. To tinge deeply; to dye; as, to imbue cloth. Boyle.
2. To tincture deeply; to cause to imbibe; as, to imbue the minds of youth with good principles.

IM-BU'ED, pp.

Tinged; dyed; tinctured.

IM-BU'ING, ppr.

Tinging; dyeing; tincturing deeply.

IM-BU'MENT, n.

A deep tincture.

IM-BURSE', v.t. [imburs'. See Burse.]

. To supply money, or to stock with money. [Not used.]

IM-BURSE'MENT, n.

1. The act of supplying money.
2. Money laid up in stock.

IM-BU'TION, n.

Act of imbuing. Lee.

IM-I-TA-BIL'I-TY, n. [See Imitable, Imitate.]

The quality of being imitable. Norris.

IM'I-TA-BLE, a. [Fr. from L. imitabilis. See Imitate.]

1. That may be imitated or copied. Let us follow our Savior in all his imitable conduct and traits of character. There are some works of the ancients that are hardly imitable. The dignified style of Johnson is scarcely imitable.
2. Worthy of imitation.

IM-I'TATE, v.i. [Fr. imiter; Sp. and Port. imitar; It. imitare; L. imitor; allied perhaps to Gr. ὁμος, similar, equal.]

1. To follow in manners; to copy in form, color or quality. We imitate another in dress or manners; we imitate a statue, a painting, a sound, an action, when we make or do that which resembles it. We should seek the best models to imitate, and in morals and piety, it is our duty to imitate the example of our Savior. But as we can not always make an exact similitude of the original, hence,
2. To attempt or endeavor to copy or resemble; as, to imitate the colors of the rainbow, or any of the beauties of nature. Cicero appears to have imitated the Greek orators.
3. To counterfeit. This hand appear'd a shining sword to wield, / And that sustain'd an imitated shield. Dryden.
4. To pursue the course of a composition, so as to use like images and examples. Johnson. Gay

IM'I-TA-TED, pp.

Followed; copied.

IM'I-TA-TING, ppr.

Following in manner; copying.

IM-I-TA'TION, n. [Fr. from L. imitatio; imitor, to imitate.]

1. The act of following in manner, or of copying in form; the act of making the similitude of any thing, or of attempting a resemblance. By the imitation of bad men or of evil examples, we are apt to contract vicious habits. In the imitation of natural forms and colors, we are often unsuccessful. Imitation in music, says Rousseau, is a reiteration of the same air, or of one which is similar, in several parts where it is repeated by one after the other, either in unison, or at the distance of a fourth, a fifth, a third, or any interval whatever. Imitation in oratory, is an endeavor to resemble a speaker or writer in the qualities which we propose to ourselves as patterns. Encyc.
2. That which is made or produced as a copy; likeness; resemblance. We say, a thing is a true imitation of nature.
3. A method of translating, in which modern examples and illustrations are used for ancient, or domestic for foreign, or in which the translator not only varies the words and sense, but forsakes them as he sees occasion. Johnson. Dryden.