umber

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: um=ber

CIDE DICTIONARY

umber, n. [F. ombre ocherous ore of iron, terre d'ombre, It. terra d'ombra, literally, earth of shadow or shade, L. umbra shadow, shade. Cf. Umber, 3 & 4, Umbrage.].

•  A brown or reddish pigment used in both oil and water colors, obtained from certain natural clays variously colored by the oxides of iron and manganese. It is commonly heated or burned before being used, and is then called burnt umber; when not heated, it is called raw umber. See Burnt umber, below.  [1913 Webster]
•  An umbrere.  [1913 Webster]
•  See Grayling, 1.  [1913 Webster]
•  An African wading bird (Scopus umbretta) allied to the storks and herons. It is dull dusky brown, and has a large occipital crest. Called also umbrette, umbre, and umber bird.  [1913 Webster]

Burnt umber (Paint.), a pigment made by burning raw umber, which is changed by this process from an olive brown to a bright reddish brown. -- Cologne umber, or German umber, a brown pigment obtained from lignite. See Cologne earth.

umber, a. 

 Of or pertaining to umber; resembling umber; olive-brown; dark brown; dark; dusky.  [1913 Webster]
"Their harps are of the umber shade
That hides the blush of waking day."  [1913 Webster]

umber, v. t. 

 To color with umber; to shade or darken; as, to umber over one's face.  B. Jonson.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

umber, n. & adj.
--n.
1 a natural pigment like ochre but darker and browner.
2 the colour of this.
--adj.
1 of this colour.
2 dark, dusky.

Etymology

F (terre d') ombre or It. (terra di) ombra = shadow (earth), f. L UMBRA or Umbra fem. of Umber Umbrian

THESAURUS

umber

beige, brown, brownish, brownish-yellow, brunet, chocolate, cinnamon, cocoa, cocoa-brown, coffee, coffee-brown, drab, dun, dun-brown, dun-drab, ecru, fawn, fawn-colored, fuscous, grege, hazel, khaki, lurid, nut-brown, olive-brown, olive-drab, seal, seal-brown, sepia, snuff-colored, sorrel, tan, taupe, tawny, toast, toast-brown, umber-colored, walnut, walnut-brown, yellowish-brown