impress
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
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”).
Pronunciation[edit]
- (verb)
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛs
- (noun)
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: im‧press
Verb[edit]
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.
-
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.
- Shakespeare
- his heart, like an agate, with your print impressed
-
- 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.
- I. Watts
- Impress the motives of persuasion upon our own hearts till we feel the force of them.
- I. Watts
- (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.
- Evelyn
- the second five thousand pounds impressed for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners
-
Synonyms[edit]
- (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
Translations[edit]
(transitive) affect (someone) strongly and often favourably
|
|
(intransitive) make an impression
|
produce a vivid impression of
|
|
mark or stamp (something) using pressure
|
seize or confiscate (property) by force
|
|
Noun[edit]
impress (plural impresses)
- The act of impressing.
- An impression; an impressed image or copy of something.
- Shakespeare
- 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 […]
- Shakespeare
- 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.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of South to this entry?)
- A heraldic device; an impresa.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Cussans to this entry?)
- Milton
- To describe […] emblazoned shields, / Impresses quaint.
- The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed.
- Shakespeare
- Why such impress of shipwrights?
- Shakespeare
Translations[edit]
act of impressing
Related terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- impress in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- impress in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- impress at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams[edit]
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with audio links
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms with usage examples
- English intransitive verbs
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- Requests for quotation/South
- Requests for quotation/Cussans
- English heteronyms