From Middle French ombre (“umber”), from terre d'ombre (“dark ochre”), from Old French umbre (“shade, shadow”), from Latin umbra. Doublet of umbra.
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) A brown clay, somewhat darker than ochre, which contains iron and manganese oxides.
I'll put myself in poor and mean attire,
And with a kind of umber smirch my face;
The like do you; so shall we pass along,
And never stir assailants. c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], lines 518-21:
They instructed the upholsterer to do the sofa in cinnamon and the ottoman in umber.
(alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable) Alternative form of umbrere.