Dictionary

ambergris en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈæm.bɚ.ɡɹɪs/ (General-American)
• /ˈæm.bɚ.ɡɹis/ (General-American, sometimes)
• /ˈæm.bə.ɡɹɪs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Old French ambre gris (“grey amber”). Though the term was initially spaced as two words, single-word forms predominated by the 19th century. In the 17th century, folk etymologies interpreting the term as amber grease or amber [of] Greece enjoyed some popularity.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) A solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray to blackish color, formed within the intestines of the sperm whale and used in the production of perfumes.
   • His dress was as it had been described, except that as he approached, Don Quixote saw a torn leather jerkin he was wearing had been tanned by ambergris, which led him to conclude that a person who wore such clothing could not be of low category. Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, page 182:
   • Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into what form you pleaſe; this, if your breath bee not to valiant, will make you ſmell as ſweete as my Ladies dogge. 1607, [attributed to Thomas Tomkis], Lingva: Or The Combat of the Tongue, and the Five Senses for Superiority. A Pleasant Comœdie., London: Printed by G[eorge] Eld, for Simon Waterson, →OCLC, act IV, scene iii:
   • And as for the other whale, why, I’ll agree to get more oil by chopping up and trying out these three masts of ours, than he’ll get from that bundle of bones; though, now that I think of it, it may contain something worth a good deal more than oil; yes, ambergris. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

Forms

Synonyms

amber · grey amber

Translations (54)

nl amber (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · es ámbar gris (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · pt âmbar gris (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · grc ἄμβαρ (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ro ambră (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · lez анбер (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · fi ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ug ئەنبەر (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · sv ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · io ambro (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · it ambra grigia (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · fr ambre gris (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · uk а́мбра (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · fa عنبر (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · sw ambari (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · pl ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · th อำพันขี้ปลา (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ca ambre gris (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ota عنبر (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · pt âmbar cinza (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · el άμβρα (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · eo ambro (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · tr amber (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · vi long diên hương (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · hy համպար (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · dv މާވަހަރު (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · sh ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · de Amber (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · pal 𐭠𐭬𐭭𐭫 (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ko 용연향 (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · sl ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · az ənbər (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ug مۈشك (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · cs ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ru а́мбра (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · de Ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · hy բուրկեն (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · sh амбра (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ja 竜涎香 (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · mi mīmiha (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · gl ámbar gris (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · tpw pirapu'ama repoti (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ar عَنْبَر (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ja アンバーグリス (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · da ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · te అంబరు (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · ml ആംബർഗ്രീസ് (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · pt âmbar pardo (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · cmn 龍涎香 /龙涎香 (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · be а́мбра (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · lez анбар (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · bg а́мбра (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · hu ámbra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales) · no ambra (waxy substance produced by sperm whales)