embolden

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English

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WOTD – 10 May 2024

Etymology

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From bold (adjective) +‎ em- -en (variant of en- -en (circumfix forming transitive verbs denoting an increase in, or intensification of, the quality denoted by the enclosed word)).[1] Compare Middle English embolden, enbolden (“to make bold, encourage”) (modern English embold, enbold, imbold (obsolete)),[2] and inboldysshen (“to embolden, encourage”).[3]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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embolden (third-person singular simple present emboldens, present participle emboldening, simple past and past participle emboldened) (transitive)

  1. To render (someone) bolder or more courageous; to encourage, to hearten.
    Synonym: (obsolete except UK, dialectal) bolden
    • 1600 or 1601 (date written), I. M. [i.e., John Marston], Antonios Reuenge. The Second Part. […], London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, and are to be soulde [by Matthew Lownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act V, scene iii, signatures I4, recto – I4, verso:
      Steel your thoughts, ſharp your reſolue, imboldẽ your spirit, graſp your ſvvords; alarum miſchief, & vvith an vndãted brovv, out ſcout the grim oppoſition of most menacing perill.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 16:2–3, column 2:
      I haue heard many ſuch things: miſerable comforters are ye all. Shall vaine words haue an ende? or what emboldeneth thee, that thou anſwereſt?
    • 1619, Samuell Hieron, “The Worth of the Water of Life. Dauids Longing, and Dauids Loue. The Good Fight. [II. Tim[othy] 4. 7.]”, in The Sermons of Master Samuell Hieron, […], London: […] Iohn Beale [and John Legatt printer to the Uniuersitie of Cambridge for Thomas Man, Ioyce Macham, Cantrell Legge, and Simon Waterson], published 1620, →OCLC, pages 222–223:
      I haue ſeene a pardon giuen to a man vpon the gallovves, but vvho ſo emboldeneth himſelfe thereuypon, perhaps the rope may be his hire: it is not good to put it vpon the Pſalme of Miſerere, and the neck-verſe, for ſometime he prooues no clarke.
    • 1626, Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, in George Sandys, transl., Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished […], London: […] William Stansby, →OCLC, page 201:
      Their lookes imboldned, modeſtie novv gone, / Conuert at length to little-differing Stone.
    • 1650, Joseph Caryl, “Job, Chap. 16, Vers. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [Verse 3]”, in An Exposition with Practicall Observations Continued upon the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Chapters of the Book of Job: […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, and are to be sould by Thomas Eglesfeild […], →OCLC, page 222:
      Give me a reaſon; vvhat is it that ſtirrs thee to reply upon me, VVhat emboldeneth thee to anſvver? The Hebrevv vvord ſignifies, firſt, to ſtrengthen, to fortifie, or confirme; he that is ſtrengthened, is emboldened.
      A paraphrase of Job 16:3 from the King James Version of the Bible: see the 1611 quotation.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1071–1073:
      Thus I embold'nd ſpake, and freedom us'd / Permiſſive, and acceptance found, which gain'd / This anſwer from the gratious voice Divine.
    • 1710 February 27 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [pseudonym; Richard Steele et al.], “Thursday, February 16, 1709–10”, in The Tatler, number 134; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume II, London: I. Walker and Co.;  […], 1822, →OCLC, page 296:
      [H]earing by chance of your worship's great humanity towards robin-red-breasts and tom-tits, he [a rooster] is emboldened to beseech you to take his deplorable condition into your tender consideration, who otherwise must suffer, with many thousands more as innocent as himself, that inhuman barbarity of a Shrove-Tuesday persecution.
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 1742, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXII. The Journal Continued.”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; and sold by C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 231:
      I have called myſelf to Account upon it, vvhether any Levity in my Looks, my Dreſs, my Appearance, could imbolden ſuch an affrontive Inſolence.
    • 1840, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter V, in Mercedes of Castile: Or, The Voyage to Cathay. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, →OCLC, page 76:
      Nay, now, Luis, thou emboldenest me to remind thee that I expressed a wish that thou would'st not go on thy last voyage to the north, and yet thou didst depart!
    • 1871, “[Psalm] CXXXVIII [verse 3]”, in William Kay, transl., The Psalms […], London; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Rivingtons, →OCLC, pages 434–435:
      In the day I called, Thou answeredst me; / Thou emboldenedst me with strength in my soul.
    • 1871 August, E. [pseudonym], “On Champagne, Considered as a Social Force”, in London Society. An Illustrated Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for the Hours of Relaxation, volume XX, number CXVI, London: […] William Clowes and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 170, column 2:
      'Tis thou [champagne] who emboldenest by thy sunny influence and exhilarating smiles the feeble, the nervous, and the weak, who plantest courage in the hearts of the speechless, and bringest voice to the lips of the silent.
    • 1942 July-August, “The Northern & Eastern Railway”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 209:
      About this time, the success of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway had emboldened people to think that it was necessary merely to invest in any proposed new line to be assured of at least a 10 per cent. return on their money.
    • 1999, Suzanne Pepper, “The Return to Land Reform”, in Civil War in China: The Political Struggle 1945–1999, Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, part 2 (The Communist Alternative), page 297:
      The peasants did not automatically demand arms to defend a new-won plot of land. Nor was the key motivation simple fear of the landlord's revenge, as Sidney Rittenberg and other observers suggested at the time. Indeed, far from emboldening the peasant, that fear probably had more of an intimidating influence.
    • 2013 August, Phillip C. Saunders, “The Rebalance to Asia: U.S.–China Relations and Regional Security”, in Strategic Forum, number 281, Washington, D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 10, column 2:
      Broadly speaking, the official Chinese reaction has been to express concern and skepticism about the stated U.S. rationale for the rebalance to Asia, lament the "lack of strategic trust" between Washington and Beijing, urge greater respect for Chinese "core interests," stress negative consequences of the rebalance for Asian security (especially in its supposed rose in emboldening U.S. allies and partners to challenge Chinese maritime territorial claims), and redouble efforts to stabilize Sino–U.S. relations, most notably through efforts to build a "new type of great power relations" with Washington.
    • 2016, Rick Searfoss [i.e., Richard Alan Searfoss], “Summary: Liftoff to Success”, in Liftoff: An Astronaut Commander’s Countdown for Purpose-powered Leadership, New York, N.Y.: Morgan James Publishing, →ISBN, page 186:
      The best end state takes the most devotion. Such commitment emboldens the team, inspires individual members, and makes everything that follows worth doing. It takes courage to make such choices, and the exercise of that courage, in turn, further emboldens people.
    • 2020 September 15, Abrahm Lustgarten, “How climate migration will reshape America: Millions will be displaced. Where will they go?”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      The sense that money and technology can overcome nature has emboldened Americans. Where money and technology fail, though, it inevitably falls to government policies – and government subsidies – to pick up the slack.
  2. (typography) To format (text) in boldface.
    Synonyms: bold, boldface
    Coordinate terms: italicize, strike through, underline
    • 1999, George [A.] Grätzer, “Typing Text”, in First Steps in LATEX, Boston, Mass.: Birkhäuser; New York, N.Y.: Springer, →ISBN, page 8:
      This note introduces several additional features of LATEX: […] ▪ The use of text style commands, including the \emph command to emphasize text, the \textbf command to embolden text, and the \texttt command to produce typewriter style text.
    • 2004, Jason Whittaker, “Web Design”, in The Cyberspace Handbook, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, part III (Reading/Writing Cyberspace), page 216:
      The [HTML] tags <p></p> indicate paragraphs breaks, and we have included some basic text formatting: <em></em> for emphasis (typically italics), <u></u> for underline and <strong></strong> to embolden text.
    • 2007, Craig Grannell, “Getting User Feedback”, in The Essential Guide to HTML5 and CSS3 Web Design, Berkeley, Calif.: Friends of ED, Apress, →ISBN, page 339:
      Embolden the company name. Balance-wise, the company name could do with standing out more.

Conjugation

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Conjugation of embolden
infinitive (to) embolden
present tense past tense
1st-person singular embolden emboldened
2nd-person singular embolden, emboldenest† emboldened, emboldenedst†
3rd-person singular emboldens, emboldeneth† emboldened
plural embolden
subjunctive embolden emboldened
imperative embolden —
participles emboldening emboldened

†Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “embolden | imbolden, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “embolden, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “embōlden, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007; compare “† embold, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.
  3. ^ “embōldishen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007; “† emboldish, v.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Further reading

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