ember

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: em=ber

CIDE DICTIONARY

ember, n. [OE. emmeres, emeres, AS. myrie; akin to Icel. eimyrja, Dan. emmer, MHG. eimere; cf. Icel. eimr vapor, smoke.].

 A lighted coal, smoldering amid ashes; -- used chiefly in the plural, to signify mingled coals and ashes; the smoldering remains of a fire.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]
"He takes a lighted ember out of the covered vessel."  [1913 Webster]

ember, a. [OE. ymber, AS. ymbren, ymbryne, prop., running around, circuit; ymbe around + ryne a running, fr. rinnan to run. See Amb-, and Run.].

 Making a circuit of the year of the seasons; recurring in each quarter of the year; as, ember fasts.  [1913 Webster]

Ember days (R. C. & Eng. Ch.), days set apart for fasting and prayer in each of the four seasons of the year. The Council of Placentia [A. D. 1095] appointed for ember days the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsuntide, the 14th of September, and the 13th of December. The weeks in which these days fall are called ember weeks.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

ember, n.
1 (usu. in pl.) a small piece of glowing coal or wood in a dying fire.
2 an almost extinct residue of a past activity, feeling, etc.

ember, n. (in full ember-goose) = great northern diver.

Etymology

Norw. emmer

THESAURUS

ember

alluvion, alluvium, ash, brand, burning ember, cinder, clinker, coal, deposition, deposits, diluvium, draff, dregs, dross, feces, firebrand, froth, grounds, lees, live coal, loess, moraine, offscum, precipitate, precipitation, scoria, scum, sediment, settlings, silt, sinter, slag, smut, soot, sublimate