[em-bed] 
verb, -bed⋅ded, -bed⋅ding.| 1. | to fix into a surrounding mass: to embed stones in cement. |
| 2. | to surround tightly or firmly; envelop or enclose: Thick cotton padding embedded the precious vase in its box. |
| 3. | to incorporate or contain as an essential part or characteristic: A love of color is embedded in all of her paintings. |
| 4. | Histology. to infiltrate (a biological tissue) with molten paraffin or other plastic material that later solidifies, enabling the preparation to be sliced very thin for viewing under a microscope. |
| 5. | Mathematics. to map a set into another set. |
| 6. | Grammar. to insert (a construction, as a phrase or clause) into a larger construction, as a clause or sentence. |
| 7. | to be or become fixed or incorporated, as into a surrounding mass: Glass embeds in the soft tar of the road. |
| em·bed (ěm-běd') v. em·bed·ded also im·bed·ded, em·bed·ding also im·bed·ding, em·beds also im·beds v. tr.
To become embedded: The harpoon struck but did not embed. n. (ěm'běd') One that is embedded, especially a journalist who is assigned to an active military unit. em·bed'ment n. |
| im·bed (ĭm-běd') v. Variant of embed. |
