Embroider Definition

ĕm-broidər

embroidered, embroidering, embroiders

verb

embroidered, embroidering, embroiders

To do embroidery.

Webster's New World

To ornament (fabric) with a design using special decorative stitches.

Webster's New World

To make by means of needlework.

Embroider a design on a bedspread.

American Heritage

To exaggerate.

Webster's New World

To make (a design, etc.) on fabric with such stitches.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Origin of Embroider

Middle English embrouderen partly from embrouden (from brouden, broiden braided, embroidered) (from Old English brogden) (past participle of bregdan to weave braid) and partly from Old French embroder (en- intensive pref. en–¹) (broder, brosder to embroider) (of Germanic origin)

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From Middle English embroudren, frequentative of embrouden, from Anglo-Norman embrouder, intensive of brosder, brouder (compare Guernésiais broudaïr), from Old Dutch *brosdōn, blend of *bursta ‘bristle’ and *brordōn ‘to stitch’ (compare Old High German brortōn). More at bristle and brad.

From Wiktionary