Frombold(adjective) +em- -en (variant ofen- -en(circumfix formingtransitive verbs denoting an increase in, or intensification of, the quality denoted by the enclosed word)).[1] CompareMiddle Englishembolden,enbolden(“to make bold, encourage”) (modernEnglishembold,enbold,imbold(obsolete)),[2] andinboldysshen(“to embolden, encourage”).[3]
embolden (third-person singular simple presentemboldens,present participleemboldening,simple past and past participleemboldened)(transitive)
- Torender (someone)bolder or morecourageous; toencourage, tohearten.
- Synonym:(obsolete except UK, dialectal)bolden
1600 or1601 (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] […], published1602,→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 anvndãted brovv, out ſcout the grim oppoſition of most menacing perill.
1619, Samuell Hieron, “The Worth of the Water of Life.Dauids Longing, and Dauids Loue. The Good Fight. [II. Tim[othy] 4. 7.]”, inThe Sermons of Master Samuell Hieron, […], London: […] Iohn Beale [andJohn Legatt printer to theUniuersitie of Cambridge for Thomas Man, Ioyce Macham, Cantrell Legge, and Simon Waterson], published1620,→OCLC,pages222–223:I haue ſeene a pardon giuen to a man vpon the gallovves, but vvho ſoemboldeneth himſelfe thereuypon, perhaps the rope may be his hire: it is not good to put it vpon the Pſalme ofMiſerere, and the neck-verſe, for ſometime he prooues no clarke.
1626,Ovid, “The Tenth Booke”, inGeorge Sandys, transl.,Ovid’s Metamorphosis Englished […], London: […] William Stansby,→OCLC,page201:Their lookesimboldned, modeſtie novv gone, / Conuert at length to little-differing Stone.
1650,Joseph Caryl, “Job, Chap. 16, Vers. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 [Verse 3]”, inAn 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,page222:Give me a reaſon; vvhat is it that ſtirrs thee to reply upon me,VVhatemboldeneth thee to anſvver? The Hebrevv vvord ſignifies, firſt,to ſtrengthen, to fortifie, or confirme; he that is ſtrengthened, isemboldened.- A paraphrase of Job 16:3 from the King James Version of the Bible: see the 1611 quotation.
1667,John Milton, “Book VII”, inParadise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […];[a]nd by Robert Boulter […];[a]nd Matthias Walker, […],→OCLC; republished asParadise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […],1873,→OCLC, lines1071–1073:Thus Iembold'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 Steeleet al.], “Thursday, February 16, 1709–10”, inThe Tatler, number134; republished in [Richard Steele], editor,The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume II, London: I. Walker and Co.; […],1822,→OCLC,page296:[H]earing by chance of your worship's great humanity towards robin-red-breasts and tom-tits, he [a rooster] isemboldened 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.”, inPamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; and sold byC[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […],→OCLC,page231:I have called myſelf to Account upon it, vvhether any Levity in my Looks, my Dreſs, my Appearance, couldimbolden ſuch an affrontive Inſolence.
1840, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter V, inMercedes of Castile: Or, The Voyage to Cathay. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.:Lea and Blanchard,→OCLC,page76:Nay, now, Luis, thouemboldenest 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 August, E.[pseudonym], “On Champagne, Considered as a Social Force”, inLondon Society. An Illustrated Magazine of Light and Amusing Literature for the Hours of Relaxation, volume XX, number CXVI, London: […] William Clowes and Sons, […],→OCLC,page170, column 2:'Tis thou [champagne] whoemboldenest 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”, inThe Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press,→ISSN,→OCLC, page209:About this time, the success of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway hademboldened 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”, inCivil War in China: The Political Struggle 1945–1999, Lanham, Md.:Rowman & Littlefield Publishers,→ISBN, part 2 (The Communist Alternative),page297: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, asSidney Rittenberg and other observers suggested at the time. Indeed, far fromemboldening 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”, inStrategic Forum, number281, Washington, D.C.: Institute for National Strategic Studies,National Defense University,→ISSN,→OCLC,page10, 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 inemboldening 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”, inLiftoff: An Astronaut Commander’s Countdown for Purpose-powered Leadership, New York, N.Y.:Morgan James Publishing,→ISBN,page186:The best end state takes the most devotion. Such commitmentemboldens 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, furtheremboldens people.
2020 September 15,Abrahm Lustgarten, “How climate migration will reshape America: Millions will be displaced. Where will they go?”, inThe New York Times, New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC:The sense that money and technology can overcome nature hasemboldened Americans. Where money and technology fail, though, it inevitably falls to government policies – and government subsidies – to pick up the slack.
- (typography) Toformat (text) inboldface.
- Synonyms:bold,boldface
- Coordinate terms:italicize,strike through,underline
1999,George [A.] Grätzer, “Typing Text”, inFirst 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 toemphasize text, the\textbf command toembolden text, and the\texttt command to producetypewriter style text.
2004, Jason Whittaker, “Web Design”, inThe Cyberspace Handbook, London; New York, N.Y.:Routledge,→ISBN, part III (Reading/Writing Cyberspace),page216: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> toembolden text.
2007, Craig Grannell, “Getting User Feedback”, inThe Essential Guide to HTML5 and CSS3 Web Design, Berkeley, Calif.: Friends of ED,Apress,→ISBN,page339:Embolden the company name. Balance-wise, the company name could do with standing out more.
to format (text) in boldface
Translations to be checked
- ^“embolden | imbolden,v.”, inOED Online
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2023;“embolden,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022. - ^“embōlden,v.”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007; compare“† embold,v.”, inOED Online, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2023.
- ^“embōldishen,v.”, inMED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007;“† emboldish,v.”, inOED Online, Oxford:Oxford University Press,July 2023.
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2023;“embolden,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
boldness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia