Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
EMBOSS
I. transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English embosen to become exhausted from being hunted, ultimately from Anglo-French bois woods
Date: 14th century
to drive (as a hunted animal) to bay or to exhaustion,
II. transitive verb
Etymology: Middle English embosen, from Middle French embocer, from en- + boce boss
Date: 15th century
to raise the surface of into bosses, to raise in relief from a surface, adorn , embellish , embossable adjective embosser noun embossment noun