embira

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From a Tupian word embira (bark, bast).

Noun[edit]

embira (uncountable)

  1. Any of several related Brazilian trees of the genus Xylopia, or the bast fiber they yield.
    • 1811, Robert Southey, “View of the State of Brasil in 1581”, in The Scots Magazine, page 280:
      No hemp grew in the country, the wild palm afforded one substitute; and the bark of the embira supplied cordage and [...]
    • '1946, Handbook of South American Indians:
      page 459: [...] two right-angled notches prevented the caraguatá or embira string from slipping.
      page 535: The embira or caraguatá strings, were made taut or lax by twisting.
    • 1948, Julian Haynes Steward, Bulletin, issue 143, part 3:
      page 259: Alfred R. Wallace (1853) says that they were made of three strips of embira, [...]
      page 287: Boys 8 to 12, who do not yet use the penis sheath, wear under their buriti belts two fringed embira aprons, one over the other.
    • 1997, Paul Oliver, Encyclopedia of the Vernacular Architecture of the World: Cultures and habitats:
      The floor beams are 10 cm x 15 cm (4 in x 6 in) in diameter and are tied with embira (bast fibre). When the structure of sticks has been set up the mixture of earth and manure is spread on it by hand.

Anagrams[edit]