impress
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English impressen, from Latin impressus, perfect passive participle of imprimere (“to press into or upon, stick, stamp, or dig into”), from in (“in, upon”) + premere (“to press”).
PronunciationEdit
- (verb)
enPR: ĭmprĕsʹ, IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛs/Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛs
- (noun)
enPR: ĭmʹprĕs, IPA(key): /ˈɪmpɹɛs/Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: im‧press
VerbEdit
impress (third-person singular simple present impresses, present participle impressing, simple past and past participle impressed)
- (transitive) To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess[1]:
- Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
- 1998, “That Don't Impress Me Much”, in Come On Over, performed by Shania Twain:
- Okay, so you're a rocket scientist / That don't impress me much
- You impressed me with your command of Urdu.
- (intransitive) To make an impression, to be impressive.
- 2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport[2]:
- Manchester United's Tom Cleverley impressed on his first competitive start and Lampard demonstrated his continued worth at international level in a performance that was little more than a stroll once England swiftly exerted their obvious authority.
- Henderson impressed in his first game as captain.
- (transitive) To produce a vivid impression of (something).
- That first view of the Eiger impressed itself on my mind.
- (transitive) To mark or stamp (something) using pressure.
- We impressed our footprints in the wet cement.
- c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:
- Gentle lady, / When I did first impart my love to you.
- To produce (a mark, stamp, image, etc.); to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).
- (figuratively) To fix deeply in the mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to imprint; to inculcate.
- 1741, Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind
- impress the motives and methods of persuasion upon our own hearts, till we feel the force and power of them.
- 1741, Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind
- (transitive) To compel (someone) to serve in a military force.
- The press gang used to impress people into the Navy.
- (transitive) To seize or confiscate (property) by force.
- The liner was impressed as a troop carrier.
- 1665 April 29, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 19 April 1665 (Julian calendar)]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […] , volume I, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1819, OCLC 976971842:
- the second £5,000 imprest for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners
SynonymsEdit
- (transitive: affect strongly and often favourably): make an impression on
- (intransitive: make an impression, be impressive): cut a figure
- (produce a vivid impression of):
- (mark or stamp (something) using pressure): imprint, print, stamp
- (compel (someone) to serve in a military force):: pressgang
- (seize or confiscate (property) by force):: confiscate, impound, seize, sequester
TranslationsEdit
(transitive) affect (someone) strongly and often favourably
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(intransitive) make an impression
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produce a vivid impression of
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mark or stamp (something) using pressure
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seize or confiscate (property) by force
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NounEdit
impress (plural impresses)
- The act of impressing.
- An impression; an impressed image or copy of something.
- c. 1590–1591, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act III, scene ii]:
- This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice.
- 1908, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, Norton 2005, p. 1330:
- We know that you were pressed for money, that you took an impress of the keys which your brother held […]
- A stamp or seal used to make an impression.
- An impression on the mind, imagination etc.
- 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, p. 187:
- Such admonitions, in the English of the Authorized Version, left an indelible impress on imaginations nurtured on the Bible […]
- 2007, John Burrow, A History of Histories, Penguin 2009, p. 187:
- Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp.
- 1698, Robert South, Twelve Sermons upon Several Subjects and Occasions:
- we have God surveying the works of the creation, and leaving this general impress or character upon them
- A heraldic device; an impresa.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Cussans to this entry?)
- 1667, John Milton, “Book 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:
- To describe […] emblazon'd Shields, / Impreses quaint.
- The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed.
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene i]:
- Why such impress of shipwrights?
TranslationsEdit
act of impressing
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impression
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stamp or seal used to make an impression
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- impress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- impress in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- impress at OneLook Dictionary Search