Definition of "embed"

embed

/ɪmˈbɛd/

verb
third-person singular simple present embeds, present participle embedding, simple past and past participle embedded
1. (transitive) To lay (something) as in a bed; to lay in surrounding matter; to bed.
  Quotations
  To the man himself [Samuel Taylor Coleridge] Nature had given, in high measure, the seeds of a noble endowment; […] but imbedded in such weak laxity of character, in such indolences and esuriences as had made strange work with it.
  1851, Thomas Carlyle, “Coleridge”, in The Life of John Sterling, London: Chapman and Hall, […], part I, page 78
  I have given my reasons for believing that … ; and that blank intervals of vast duration, as far as fossils are concerned, occurred during the periods when the bed of the sea was either stationary or rising, and likewise when sediment was not thrown down quickly enough to embed and preserve organic remains.
  1859, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species
  In the opposite direction a train got away from Huntly, but became embedded in the snow at Insch, where the passengers spent the night.
  1960 March, “The January blizzard in the North-East of Scotland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 139
2. (transitive, by extension) To include (something) in surrounding matter.
  Quotations
  After some unnecessary, producer-pleasing expository text, he opens the movie in close-up on the back of a camo combat helmet Sharpied in Vietnam-style graffiti, effectively embedding the viewer with a bedraggled squad of human soldiers—armed with assault rifles, sawed-off shotguns, and crossbows—as they inch toward the stake-wall of Caesar’s compound in an attempt to bust through, only to be met with deadly clumps of Amazonian arrows and smoky flung projectiles.
  2017 July 7, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes ends up surrendering to formula”, in The Onion AV Club‎
3. (transitive, computing) To encapsulate within another document or data file.
4. (mathematics, transitive) To define a one-to-one function from one set to another so that certain properties of the domain are preserved when considering the image as a subset of the codomain.
noun
plural embeds
1. (journalism) An embedded reporter or journalist, such as a war reporter assigned to and travelling with a military unit, or a political reporter assigned to follow and report on the campaign of a candidate.
2. An element of an advertisement, etc. serving as a subliminal message.
  Quotations
  He alleges that ads for Seagram's gin, Chivas Regal scotch, Bacardi rum, Sprite soda, Camel and Kent cigarettes, Tweed perfume, Kanon cologne and myriad other products include embeds surreptitiously placed to induce purchase.
  1992, Sammy Richard Danna, Advertising and Popular Culture
3. (computing) An item embedded in another document.
  Quotations
  When you change the content of these embeds, this information will be automatically updated in every page that the embeds are included in.
  2006, Richard Rutter, Andy Budd, Simon Collison, Blog Design Solutions
  Adding controls, looping, and autoplay to an HTML5 video embed is simple.
  2011, Steve Fulton, Jeff Fulton, HTML5 Canvas, page 265