Emberizī´dæ, a family of small perching birds, typical genus Emberīza. It includes the buntings, the snow-flake, the yellow-hammer, and reed sparrow. The ortolan belongs to this family. By some naturalists it is classified as a sub-family of the finches.
Embez´zlement is the appropriation, by a clerk or servant, to himself, of money or property put into his hands in trust. In English law it is a felony punishable by penal servitude for not more than fourteen years, or by imprisonment; and in the case of a male under the age of sixteen, by whipping in addition to the imprisonment.
Em´blements (Fr. emblaver, to sow with grain), in law, the crops actually growing at any time upon land. They are considered in law as personal property, and pass as such to the executor or administrator of the occupier, if the latter die before he has actually cut, or reaped, or gathered the same.
Em´bolism is the obstruction of a blood-vessel by an embolus, the name given to a blood-clot or other body carried by the blood-stream, and obstructing the circulation at the point of lodgment. An embolism in a vital organ gives rise to serious symptoms which may cause death in a short time, or more remotely by the production of gangrene or pyæmia.
Embos´sing, the art of producing raised figures upon plane surfaces, such as on leather for bookbinding; on paper for envelopes; on wood or bronze, in architecture or sculpture. Embossing in needlework is effected by embroidery over figures padded with wool felt.
Embra´cery, an attempt to corrupt or influence a jury by money, promises, letters, entertainments, persuasions, or the like.
Embra´sure, in fortification, an opening in the breastwork or parapet of a battery or fortress, to admit of a gun being fired through it.
Embroi´dery (O. Fr. embroder, from bord, border), figured work in gold, or silver, or silk thread, wrought by the needle, upon cloths, stuffs, or muslins. In embroidering stuffs a kind of stretching-frame is used, because the more the piece is stretched the easier it is worked. The art was common in the East in very ancient times. The Jews appear to have acquired it from the Egyptians; Homer makes frequent allusion to it; and Phrygia was celebrated for its embroidery, which was in great demand at Rome. The Nineveh mural reliefs in the British Museum show Assyrian robes with floral ornaments, and a relief (now in the Louvre, Paris) from the palace of Darius I shows Persian robes with embroidery. The Anglo-Saxons had a Continental reputation, and from the eleventh to the sixteenth century the art of pictorial needlework was of the highest importance both as a
recreation and as an industry. Embroidery is commonly divided into two classes: white embroidery applied to dress and furniture, in which the French and the Swiss excel; and embroidery in silk, gold, and silver, chiefly in demand for ecclesiastical vestments. The Chinese, Hindus, Persians, and Turks excel in such work.—Cf. Christie, Embroidery and Tapestry Weaving.
Embrun (a˙n-bru˙n), a picturesque walled town, France, department Hautes-Alpes, on a rocky eminence on the Durance. It was sacked successively by Vandals, Huns, Saxons, and Moors, by the Protestants in 1573, and by the Duke of Savoy in 1692. It has a fine cathedral. Pop. 3556.