Category:Impress

Im*press", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Impressed; p. pr. & vb. n. Impressing.] Etym: [L. impressus, p. p. of imprimere to impress; pref. im- in, on + premere to press. See Press to squeeze, and cf. Imprint.]

1. To press, stamp, or print something in or upon; to mark by pressure, or as by pressure; to imprint (that which bears the impression). His heart, like an agate, with your print impressed. Shak.

2. To produce by pressure, as a mark, stamp, image, etc.; to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).

3. Fig.: To fix deeply in the mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to imprint; to inculcate. Impress the motives of persuasion upon our own hearts till we feel the force of them. I. Watts.

4. Etym: [See Imprest, Impress, n., 5.]

Defn: To take by force for public service; as, to impress sailors or money. The second five thousand pounds impressed for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners. Evelyn.

impress Im*press", v. i.

Defn: To be impressed; to rest. [Obs.] Such fiendly thoughts in his heart impress. Chaucer.

impress Im"press, n.; pl. Impresses (.

1. The act of impressing or making.

2. A mark made by pressure; an indentation; imprint; the image or figure of anything, formed by pressure or as if by pressure; result produced by pressure or influence. The impresses of the insides of these shells. Woodward. This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched in ice. Shak.

3. Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp. South.

4. A device. See Impresa. Cussans. To describe. . . emblazoned shields, Impresses quaint. Milton.

5. Etym: [See Imprest, Press to force into service.]

Defn: The act of impressing, or taking by force for the public service; compulsion to serve; also, that which is impressed. Why such impress of shipwrights Shak. Impress gang, a party of men, with an officer, employed to impress seamen for ships of war; a press gang. -- Impress money, a sum of money paid, immediately upon their entering service, to men who have been impressed.