[? f. Gr. ἄμβρτος immortal (? imperishable), or perh. AMBER, + TYPE.] The name given in U.S. to a photograph on glass, in which the lights are produced by the silver, and the shades by a dark background showing through.
1853. Local Spy, 20 Feb., 4/2, Advt. The fine toned Ambrotype.
1855. N. & Q., 7 April, 270. Ambrotype Likenesses.—The Boston Atlas states that a most valuable improvement in the art of producing likenesses has been recently introduced.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., xi. 103. Willis touched this last point in one of his earlier ambrotypes.
1882. Cent. Mag., Oct., 852/1. The portrait of President Lincoln … is a copy of an ambrotype which was taken at Springfield, Illinois, in 1860.
