ˈembə(r) noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English eymere, eymbre, modification of Old Norse eimyrja; akin to Old English ǣmerge ashes, Old High German eimuria ember; all from a prehistoric North Germanic-West Germanic compound whose first and second constituents respectively are akin to English oam, Old Norse eimr steam, vapor and to Old English ysle spark, ash, Old Norse ysja fire, Latin urere to burn, Greek heuein to singe, Sanskrit oṣati he burns
1.
a. : a lighted coal : a glowing fragment of coal, coke, wood, or other solid fuel from a fire ; especially : such a coal smoldering in ashes
b. : the smoldering remains of a fire — usually used in plural
2. embers plural : slowly cooling emotions, memories, ideas, or responses from past experience that are still capable of being enlivened
embers of an old love
generals … who kept alive the embers of resistance — Telford Taylor
3. : a moderate red that is yellower and duller than cerise, claret (sense 3a), average strawberry (sense 2a), or Turkey red and yellower and less strong than Harvard crimson (sense 1)