Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EM-BAR'RASS, v.t. [Fr. embarrasser; Port. embaraçar; Sp. embarazar; from Sp. embarazo, Port. embaraço, Fr. embarras, perplexity, intricacy, hinderance, impediment. In Spanish, formerly embargo signified embarrassment, and embarrar is to perplex.]

1. To perplex; to render intricate; to entangle. We say, public affairs are embarrassed; the state of our accounts is embarrassed; want of order tends to embarrass business.
2. To perplex, as the mind or intellectual faculties; to confuse. Our ideas are sometimes embarrassed.
3. To perplex, as with debts, or demands, beyond the means of payment; applied to a person or his affairs. In mercantile language, a man or his business is embarrassed, when he can not meet his pecuniary engagements.
4. To perplex; to confuse; to disconcert; to abash. An abrupt address may embarrass a young lady. A young man may be too much embarrassed to utter a word.