Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause to board a vessel or aircraft.
  • intransitive verb To enlist (a person or persons) or invest (capital) in an enterprise.
  • intransitive verb To go aboard a vessel or aircraft, as at the start of a journey.
  • intransitive verb To set out on a venture; commence.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To put on board a ship or other vessel: as, the general embarked his troops and their baggage.
  • Hence To place or venture; put at use or risk, as by investment; put or send forth, as toward a destination: as, he embarked his capital in the scheme.
  • To go on board ship, as when setting out on a voyage: as, the troops embarked for Lisbon.
  • To set out, as in some course or direction; make a start or beginning in regard to something; venture; engage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To go on board a vessel or a boat for a voyage.
  • intransitive verb To engage in any affair.
  • transitive verb To cause to go on board a vessel or boat; to put on shipboard.
  • transitive verb To engage, enlist, or invest (as persons, money, etc.) in any affair.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To get on a boat or ship or (outside the USA) an aeroplane.
  • verb To start, begin.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb go on board
  • verb set out on (an enterprise or subject of study)
  • verb proceed somewhere despite the risk of possible dangers

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French embarquer, from Late Old French, probably from Medieval Latin imbarcāre : Latin in-, in- + barca, boat; see bark.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French embarquer, from em- + barque ("small ship"). Compare with Portuguese embarcar, Spanish abarcar.

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Examples

  • The dark trauma that followed Flo's death inspired Zaka embark on a documentary project, a tribute to the life of his friend.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Jessica Leeder 2011

  • The dark trauma that followed Flo's death inspired Zaka embark on a documentary project, a tribute to the life of his friend.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed Jessica Leeder 2011

  • For years, the regulators of the global money supply ignored the advice of their top experts, probably because it would require them to do something unheard of, namely embark on a fundamental change in direction.

    US Market Commentary from Seeking Alpha 2009

  • Em - is a common prefix, found in words such as embark, embed, embody, emboss, embrace, and embroil.

    Read ‘em and write ‘em 2009

  • Em - is a common prefix, found in words such as embark, embed, embody, emboss, embrace, and embroil.

    May « 2009 « Sentence first 2009

  • Tonight we get words such as embark, infused, and endeavor.

    PWTorch.com 2008

  • Tonight we get words such as embark, infused, and endeavor.

    PWTorch.com 2008

  • I still can't work out why there is no tasting on the line at El Bulli, and I am still at a loss to know why its staff embark on such futile enterprises as attempting to make a risotto from sunflower seeds they devoted two weeks to this failed experiment.

    The Sorcerer's Apprentices: A Season at el Bulli by Lisa Abend – review 2011

  • Malcolm's habit, after the birth of each of his four children, was to embark on distant speaking tours.

    Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable – review 2011

  • The European Central Bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly three years, but sought to reassure investors that it wouldn't embark on a rapid-fire series of increases that could disrupt fragile economies in parts of the euro bloc.

    Reversal on 9/11 Trial; Southwest Air Fallout 2011

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