Also 6–9 umbre, 6–7 vmber. [ad. F. ombre (also terre d’ombre) or It. ombra (also terra di ombra), either meaning ‘shadow’ (see UMBER sb.1) or from L. Umbra, fem. of Umber, belonging to the province Umbria (cf. Umbrica crēta, Pliny). Hence also G. umbra, umber-erde, Da. and Sw. umber, umbra, Du. omber, but Sp. and Pg. sombra (= shadow) and tierra (Pg. terra) de sombra.]
1. A brown earth used as a pigment; also, the color of this.
1568. [see umber-color, sense 3].
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels, V. ii. The gloves are right, sir; you shall bury them … seven years, and they shall still retain their first scent, true Spanish. There’s ambre in the umbre.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., I. iii. 114. Ile put my selfe in poore and meane attire, And with a kinde of vmber smirch my face.
1612. Peacham, Gentl. Exerc., 80. Vmber is a more sad colour.
c. 1650. in Norgate, Miniatura (1919), 97. For the Black Cercle of the eye take Umber, Coale black, and a little whyte.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. App., Umber. This earth when burnt makes a good shade for gold.
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 447/2. Sea sand, that in colour resembles unburnt umber, but is lighter and more yellow.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 744. Dark back-grounds may be composed of bistre, umber, or Cologne earth.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 167. Certain colours, having a greater affinity for water than for oil (such as blacks, umbers, and ochres), are liable to be affected by damp.
1899. Pall Mall Mag., Jan., 90. The scheme of colour is composed of the yellows, umbers, and reds which Rembrandt loved so intensely.
b. Burnt umber, a special preparation of the pigment rendering it redder in color. Also attrib.
c. 1650. Norgate, Miniatura (1919), 40. The deepning being made with Lake and burnt Umber, the heigthning of pure Gold.
1660. Albert Durer Revived, 12. Shadow it with the water of Burnt Umber.
1787. W. Williams, Mechanic Oil Colours, 42. Burnt umber, a very quick drier.
1843. Winsor & Newton, Hand-bk. Water Col., 27. Burnt Umber, a quiet brown colour, affording clear and warm shadows.
1843. Thackeray, Jerome Paturot, Wks. 1900, XIII. 388. The Jew-boy…, the burnt-umber Malay, who sweeps crossings, save money.
1886. Ruskin, Præterita, I. 396. To crumble burnt umber with a dry brush for foliage and foreground.
2. One or other of various moths.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & M., 103. The Scarce Umbre (L. prosapiaria) appears in October or November. Ibid. The Umbre (C. defoliaria) appears the end of October, in woods and copses.
1887. Nicholson’s Illustr. Dict. Gardening, IV. 122. Hybernia defoliaria, or the Mottled Umber…, and H. aurantiaria, or the Scarce Umber.
3. attrib. and Comb., as umber-color; umber-black, -brown, -colored, -rufous, -tinted adjs.; † umber-owe, a kind of madder.
1845. Encycl. Metrop., XXV. 882/2. A tufted *umber-black plant.
1832. T. Brown, Bk. Butterflies & M. (1834), I. 171. The pupa is of a burnt *umber-brown colour.
1859. B. Clemens, Tincina N. Amer. (1872), 25. The head is umbre-brown.
1887. W. Phillips, Brit. Discomycetes, 59. The hymenium is dark umber-brown, externally a little lighter.
c. 1568. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 116. Ye paynter for *vmber coller.
1816. W. Smith, Strata Ident., 3. The soil is of a mellow brown or umber colour.
1817. Stephens, in Shaw’s Gen. Zool., X. II. 335. The upper parts of the body *umber-coloured.
1832. T. Brown, Bk. Butterflies & M. (1834), I. 217. With … three umber-coloured spots towards the lower edge of the under wings.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 85. *Umber Mine Agent. Ibid. *Umber Miner.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Kent, II. (1662), 57. There are three kinds thereof. 1. Crop-Madder. 2. *Umber-owe. 3. Pipe or Fat-Madder.
1836. Berkeley, Fungi, in Smith’s Eng. Flora, V. II. 17. Pileus dry squamulose *umber-rufous.
1895. Daily News, 20 Dec., 5/2. Delicately arched nostrils, sensuously-moulded lips, and *umber-tinted hair.
b. Attrib. in the sense of ‘umber-colored.’
1802. Shaw, Gen. Zool., III. I. 226. Umbre Lizard. Ibid. (1803), IV. II. 384. Umbre Acanthurus.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & M., 103. The Umbre Link (Hibernia connectaria) appears in November and December.
1866. Miss Mulock, Noble Life, x. The black woods—black, or with a faint umber shadow running through them.
1870. Disraeli, Lothair, xxxviii. The golden and umber vapours fell into forms that … depicted the objects of his frequent meditation.
1881. Eleanor A. Ormerod, Injur. Insects (1890), 337. The caterpillar of the Mottled Umber Moth is a ‘looper.’
