v. Obs. or arch. [f. EN- + BARREN.] trans. To make or render barren, unfertile, unproductive. lit. and fig.
1627. Feltham, Resolves, II. ix. The Ashes from … Vesuvius … embarren all the fields about it. Ibid., I. xviii. Like salt marshes that lye low … [the poor] are … embarrened with a fretting care.
1662. Fuller, Worthies (1840), I. 546. The most generous and vigorous land will in time be embarrened.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 364. Like to Java’s drear waste they embarren the heart.
