amber – English noun declension

English noun forms of amber

Noun: amber
Singularamber
Pluralambers

Sample Sentences

  • Ambre is hote and drye […] Some say that it is the sparme of a whale. [1526, The Grete Herball:]
  • As for Amber Grice, or Amber Cane, which ist most sweet myngled with other sweete thynges: some say it commeth from the rocks of the Sea. […] Some say it is gotten by a fish called Azelum, which feedeth upon Amber Grece, and dyeth, which is taken by cunnyng fishers and the belly opened, and this precious Amber found in hym. [1579, The Booke of Simples, fol. 56 (contained in Bulleins Bulwarke of Defence against all Sicknesse, Soarnesse, and Woundes)]
  • The head of this fish is as hard as stone. The inhabitants of the Ocean sea coast affirme that this fish casteth foorth Amber; but whether the said Amber be the sperma or the excrement thereof, they cannot well determine. [1600, John Pory (translator), A Geographical Historie of Africa (original by Leo Africanus), page 344]
  • Slaves […] with silver Censors […] perfum'd the air with Amber, Aloes wood, and other Scents. [1717, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, letter, 18 Apr 1717]
  • The leaves of the foreſt were loaded with manna, pure amber dropped from every bough, honey diſtilled from the rifted rock, and the humming bee, drunk with joy, ſtrayed from flower to flower, forgetful of his burſting cells. [1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iv:]
  • With scarfs and fans and double change of bravery,
  • With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery. [c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:]
  • Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of wit. [c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:]
  • To shew this by example, we reade of Sabina Poppcea, to whom nothing was wanting, but shame and honestie, being extremely beloved of Nero, had the colour of her haire yellow, like Amber, which Nero esteemed much of, […] . [1637, Monro, his expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment (called Mac-Keys Regiment), republished in 1999 →ISBN, page 102]
  • Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are […]. (Common gem materials not addressed in this article include amber, amethyst, chalcedony, garnet, lazurite, malachite, opals, peridot, rhodonite, spinel, tourmaline, turquoise and zircon.) [2012 March 26, Lee A. Groat, “Gemstones”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 14 Jun 2012, page 128:]
  • And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire. [1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 1:4:]
  • While earlier controllers provided concurrent ambers, present practice is to indicate a minimum intergreen period of 4 s. [1974, Traffic Planning and Engineering, page 366:]
  • Also flashing ambers are not operational at this type of crossing. [2000, Traffic Engineering & Control, volume 41, page 201:]
  • >Problem: Red-red signals are too time consuming when traffic density is higher.
  • I don't find them time consuming at all. I find them identical to ambers. [2004 January 14, AZGuy, “Turn Signal Research shows amber no more effective then red”, in rec.autos.driving (Usenet):]
  • an amber codon, an amber mutation, an amber suppressor
  • For example, to cross a temperature-sensitive mutation with an amber mutation, amber suppressor cells are infected at the low (permissive) temperature. [2007, Molecular Genetics of Bacteria, edition 3, page 333:]
  • Double ambers revert at 10⁻⁸−10⁻⁹, and therefore, reversion is negligible. Double-amber mutants are made by crossing single-amber mutants with each other. [2007, Jonathan C. Kuhn, “Detection of Salmonella by Bacteriophage Felix 01”, in Salmonella: Methods and Protocols, pages 27–28:]
  • […] in response to the actions I just described, business was given the green light, and now we seem to be on amber. [1973, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Banking, Currency, and Housing, Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee..., page 53:]

Etymology

1. From Middle English ambre, aumbre, from Old French aumbre, ambre, from Arabic عَنْبَر (ʕanbar, “ambergris”), from Middle Persian 𐭠𐭭𐭡𐭫 (ʾnbl /⁠ambar⁠/, “ambergris”). Compare English lamber, ambergris. Displaced Middle English smulting (from Old English smelting (“amber”)), Old English eolhsand (“amber”), Old English glær (“amber”), and Old English sāp (“amber, resin, pomade”).
2. * The nucleotide sequence "UAG" is named "amber" for the first person to isolate the amber mutation, California Institute of Technology graduate student Harris Bernstein, whose last name ("Bernstein") is the German word for the resin "amber". See: Middle English Nouns 'ambre', English Nouns 'lamber'.