Emily Dickinson Lexicon

EM'BER, n.

In ember-days, ember-weeks, is the Saxon emb-ren, or ymb-ryne, a circle, circuit or revolution, from ymb, αμφι, around, and ren, or ryne, course, from the root of run. Ember-days are the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, after Quadragesima Sunday, after Whitsunday, after Holyroodday in September and after St. Lucia's day in December. Ember-days are days returning at certain seasons; Ember-weeks, the weeks in which these days fall; and formerly, our ancestors used the words Ember-fast and Ember-tide or season. Lye. Encyc. LL. Alfred. sect. 39.