Amʹber
. This fossilised vegetable resin is, according to legend, a concretion of birdsʹ tears. The birds were the sisters of Meleāger, who never ceased weeping for the death of their brother.—Ovid: Metamorphoses, viii. line 270, etc.
“Around thee shall glisten the loveliest amber
That ever the sorrowing sea-bird hath wept.”
Amber, a repository. So called because insects and small leaves are preserved in amber.
“You may be disposed to preserve it in your amber.”—Notes and Queries.—W. Dowe.
“Pretty! in amber, to observe the forms
Of hairs, or straws, or dirt, or grubs, or worms,
The things, we know, are neither rich nor rare,
But wonder now the devil they got there.”
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.