impressment

English

Etymology

From impress +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛsmənt/
• Hyphenation: im‧press‧ment

Noun

impressment (countable and uncountable, plural impressments)

1. The act of seizing for public use; impressing into public service.
   • 1808, Hansard, 3 February, 1808, [1]

     owing to the immense number of our sailors, and the extent of our commerce, we were enabled by impressment and other means, to fit out and man a powerful fleet in a few weeks

   • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Chapter V, [2]

     Although it was a warm day, she seemed to think of nothing but the fire. I fancied she was jealous even of the saucepan on it; and I have reason to know that she took its impressment into the service of boiling my egg and broiling my bacon, in dudgeon […]

   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 833:

     A month later the governors of six more states, meeting in conference, enigmatically urged the impressment of slaves for “the public service as may be required.”

   • 2002, Colin Imber, The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power, Palgrave Macmillan, Chapter 8, p. 294,

     […] in years when need was pressing, […] the government would order the construction of extra ships at specified points on the shores of the Black Sea and Mediterranean, and the impressment of craftsmen to do the work.