Noun

(obsolete) Ambergris, the waxy product of the sperm whale.

* 1526 , The Grete Herball :

Ambre is hote and drye Some say that it is the sparme of a whale.

* 1579 , The Booke of Simples'', fol. 56 (contained in ''Bulleins Bulwarke of Defence against all Sicknesse, Soarnesse, and Woundes ):

As for Amber Grice, or Amber Cane, which ist most sweet myngled with other sweete thynges: some say it commeth from the rocks of the Sea. Some say it is gotten by a fish called Azelum , which feedeth upon Amber Grece, and dyeth, which is taken by cunnyng fishers and the belly opened, and this precious Amber found in hym.

* 1600 , John Pory (translator), A Geographical Historie of Africa (original by Leo Africanus), page 344:

The head of this fish is as hard as stone. The inhabitants of the Ocean sea coast affirme that this fish casteth foorth Amber'; but whether the said ' Amber be the sperma or the excrement thereof, they cannot well determine.

* 1717 , (Lady Mary Wortley Montagu), letter, 18 Apr 1717:

Slaves perfum'd the air with Amber , Aloes wood, and other Scents.

A hard, generally yellow to brown translucent fossil resin, used for jewellery. One variety, , appears blue rather than yellow under direct sunlight.

* 1594 — Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene III :

With scarfs and fans and double change of bravery,

With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery.

* 1594 — Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene II :

Slanders, sir: for the satirical rogue says here that old men have grey beards, that their faces are wrinkled, their eyes purging thick amber and plum-tree gum and that they have a plentiful lack of wit.

* 1637', ''Monro, his expedition with the Worthy Scots Regiment (called Mac-Keys Regiment)'', republished in ' 1999 (ISBN 0275962679), page 102:

To shew this by example, we reade of Sabina Poppcea, to whom nothing was wanting , but shame and honestie, being extremely beloved of Nero, had the colour of her haire yellow, like Amber , which Nero esteemed much of, .

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03

, author=Lee A. Groat , title=Gemstones , volume=100, issue=2, page=128 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Although there are dozens of different types of gems, among the best known and most important are

A brownish yellow colour.

(British) The intermediate light in a set of three traffic lights, which when illuminated indicates that drivers should stop short of the intersection if it is safe to do so.

* 1974 , Traffic Planning and Engineering , page 366:

While earlier controllers provided concurrent ambers , present practice is to indicate a minimum intergreen period of 4 s.

* 2000 , in the Journal of Traffic Engineering & Control , volume 41, page 201:

Also flashing ambers are not operational at this type of crossing.

* 2004 January 14, "AZGuy" (username), "Turn Signal Research shows amber no more effective then red", in rec.autos.driving, Usenet :

>Problem: Red-red signals are too time consuming when traffic density is higher.

I don't find them time consuming at all. I find them identical to ambers .

(biology, genetics, biochemistry) The stop codon (nucleotide triplet) "UAG", or a mutant which has this stop codon at a premature place in its DNA sequence.

an amber codon'', ''an amber mutation'', ''an amber suppressor

* 2007 , Molecular Genetics of Bacteria , edition 3, page 333:

For example, to cross a temperature-sensitive mutation with an amber' mutation, ' amber suppressor cells are infected at the low (permissive) temperature.

* 2007 , Jonathan C. Kuhn, Detection of Salmonella by Bacteriophage Felix 01'', in ''Salmonella: Methods and Protocols , pages 27–28:

Double ambers revert at 10^-8-10^-9, and therefore, reversion is negligible. Double-amber mutants are made by crossing single-amber mutants with each other.