umber

[ uhm-ber ]
See synonyms for umber on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. an earth consisting chiefly of a hydrated oxide of iron and some oxide of manganese, used in its natural state as a brown pigment (raw umber ) or, after heating, as a reddish-brown pigment (burnt umber ).

  2. the color of such a pigment; dark dusky brown or dark reddish brown.

  1. Ichthyology. the European grayling, Thymallus thymallus.

  2. North England Dialect. shade; shadow.

adjective
  1. of the color umber.

verb (used with object)
  1. to color with or as if with umber.

Origin of umber

1
1250–1300; Middle English umbre, umber shade, shadow <Old French umbre<Latin umbra; in sense “earth” <French terre d'ombre or Italian terra di ombra

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use umber in a sentence

  • It seemed fraught with startling portent, clouded his spirits, and umbered the rose-tint of his reveries.

    Vassall Morton | Francis Parkman
  • He was tired of worshipping or tyrannizing over the bistred or umbered beauties of mingled blood among whom he had been living.

    Elsie Venner | Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

British Dictionary definitions for umber

umber

/ (ˈʌmbə) /


noun
  1. any of various natural brown earths containing ferric oxide together with lime and oxides of aluminium, manganese, and silicon: See also burnt umber

  2. any of the dark brown to greenish-brown colours produced by this pigment

  1. short for umber moth

  2. obsolete

    • shade or shadow

    • any dark, dusky, or indefinite colour

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or stained with umber

Origin of umber

1
C16: from French (terre d') ombre or Italian (terra di) ombra shadow (earth), from Latin umbra shade

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012