embed

Verb

embed (third-person singular simple present embeds, present participle embedding, simple past and past participle embedded)

1. (transitive) To lay (something) as in a bed; to lay in surrounding matter; to bed.
   • to embed something in clay, mortar, or sand
   • To the man himself [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Nature had given, in high measure, the seeds of a noble endowment; […] but imbedded in such weak laxity of character, in such indolences and esuriences as had made strange work with it.1851, Thomas Carlyle, “Coleridge”, in The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, part I, page 78
2. (broadly, transitive) To include (something) in surrounding matter.
   • We wanted to embed our reporter with the Fifth Infantry Division, but the Army would have none of it.
   • After some unnecessary, producer-pleasing expository text, he opens the movie in close-up on the back of a camo combat helmet Sharpied in Vietnam-style graffiti, effectively embedding the viewer with a bedraggled squad of human soldiers—armed with assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns, and...2017 July 7, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes ends up surrendering to formula”, in The Onion AV Club
3. (transitive) To encapsulate within another document or data file.
   • The instructions showed how to embed a chart from the spreadsheet within the wordprocessor document.
4. (transitive) To define a one-to-one function from one set to another so that certain properties of the domain are preserved when considering the image as a subset of the codomain.
   • The torus S¹#92;timesS¹ can be embedded in #92;mathbb#123;R#125;³.

Noun

IPA/ˈɛm.bɛd/

embed (plural embeds)

1. An embedded reporter or journalist, such as a war reporter assigned to and travelling with a military unit, or a political reporter assigned to follow and report on the campaign of a candidate.
2. An element of an advertisement, etc. serving as a subliminal message.
   • He alleges that ads for Seagram's gin, Chivas Regal scotch, Bacardi rum, Sprite soda, Camel and Kent cigarettes, Tweed perfume, Kanon cologne and myriad other products include embeds surreptitiously placed to induce purchase.1992, Sammy Richard Danna, Advertising and Popular Culture
3. A digital object embedded within another, which is often a document.
   • When you change the content of these embeds, this information will be automatically updated in every page that the embeds are included in.2006, Richard Rutter, Andy Budd, Simon Collison, Blog Design Solutions
   • Adding controls, looping, and autoplay to an HTML5 video embed is simple.2011, Steve Fulton, Jeff Fulton, HTML5 Canvas, page 265
4. A piece of computer hardware embedded within another physical object, which is often a larger IT device.