imprint

English

WOTD – 6 October 2008

Etymology 1

From Old French empreinte, from the past participle of empreindre, from Latin imprimere

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɪm.pɹɪnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

imprint (plural imprints)

1. An impression; the mark left behind by printing something.

   The day left an imprint in my mind.

   • 2017 June 3, Daniel Taylor, “Real Madrid win Champions League as Cristiano Ronaldo double defeats Juv”, in The Guardian (London)‎^[1]:

     It was the moment everyone knew the Champions League trophy was on its way back to the Bernabéu and, once again, that the four-times Ballon d’Or winner had left his imprint on another final.

2. The name and details of a publisher or printer, as printed in a book etc.; a publishing house.
3. A distinctive marking, symbol or logo.

   The shirts bore the company imprint on the right sleeve.

Translations

an impression; the mark left behind by printing something

• Bulgarian: отпечатък (bg) m (otpečatǎk)
• Dutch: indruk (nl)
• Finnish: jälki (fi), painauma (fi), painanne
• French: empreinte (fr)
• Georgian: ანაბეჭდი (anabeč̣di)
• German: Gepräge (de) n, Abdruck (de) m, Aufdruck (de) m
• Hungarian: nyom (hu), lenyomat (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: mātātuhi, hāraunga
• Russian: отпеча́ток (ru) (otpečátok)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: bullu, segliu, segliu

  Logudorese: imprènta

• Sassarese: imprènta, piùta
• Serbo-Croatian: отисак
• Swedish: avtryck (sv) n

the name and details of a publisher or printer, as printed in a book etc

• Bulgarian: издателско каре n (izdatelsko kare)
• French: ours (fr) m, pavé de l’ours m
• German: Impressum (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: impresszum (hu)
• Polish: impressum
• Turkish: künye (tr)

a distinctive marking, symbol or logo

• Finnish: tunnus (fi), merkki (fi), logo (fi)
• German: Gepräge (de) n, Aufdruck (de) m
• Italian: logo (it) m, marchio (it) m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: påtrykk n

  Nynorsk: påtrykk n

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Serbo-Croatian: лого

Etymology 2

From Middle English emprinten, enprinten, from Old French empreinter, from the past participle of empreindre, from Latin imprimere

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹɪnt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Verb

imprint (third-person singular simple present imprints, present participle imprinting, simple past and past participle imprinted)

1. To leave a print, impression, image, etc.

   For a fee, they can imprint the envelopes with a monogram.

   • (Can we date this quote by Prior and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     And sees his num'rous herds imprint her sands.

   • (Can we date this quote by Cowper and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     Nature imprints upon whate'er we see, / That has a heart and life in it, "Be free."

   • (Can we date this quote by John Locke and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     ideas of those two different things distinctly imprinted on his mind

2. To learn something indelibly at a particular stage of life, such as who one's parents are.
3. To mark a gene as being from a particular parent so that only one of the two copies of the gene is expressed.

Derived terms

• imprint on

Translations

to leave a print, impression, image, etc.

• Bulgarian: отпечатвам (bg) (otpečatvam)
• Finnish: painaa (fi), jättää jälki
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: einprägen (de), abdrucken (de), aufdrucken
• Latin: imprimō
• Russian: отпечатать (ru) (otpečatatʹ)