impress

Verb

impress (third-person singular simple present impresses, present participle impressing, simple past and past participle impressed)

1. (transitive) To affect (someone) strongly and often favourably; to inspire admiration from (someone).
   • You impressed me with your command of Urdu.
   • 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.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   make an impression, grab

   1. (intransitive, transitive) To make an impression; to be impressive; to arouse interest or favor.
      • Henderson impressed in his first game as captain.
      • 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.2012 September 7, Phil McNulty, “Moldova 0-5 England”, in BBC Sport
2. (transitive) To mark or stamp (something) using pressure; to apply (something) using pressure.
   • We impressed our footprints in the wet cement.
   • Then he impresses the die into the clay to produce a design on the surface.

   Synonyms:

   press

   1. (transitive) To produce (a mark, stamp, image, etc.); to imprint (a mark or figure upon something).
      • He impressed his signature into the wax.
   2. (figuratively, intransitive, reflexive, transitive) To produce a vivid impression of (something); to convince someone of one's nature.
      • That first view of the Eiger impressed itself on my mind.
      • I will impress the schedule upon her.
   3. (figuratively, transitive) To fix deeply in the mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to cause someone to understand and accept something.
      • You have to impress the new vocabulary into your mind.
      • She is impressing the rules onto the students.
3. (transitive) To transfer or transmit.
   • The money was impressed into the hands of the financial ministry.
   • His actions impress a message of selfishness to us all.

   Synonyms:

   pass

   1. (figuratively, transitive) To transfer voltage onto metalwork through induced or capacitative processes.
      • This process will impress voltage into the metal.
4. (transitive) To compel (someone) to serve in a military force.
   • The press gang used to impress people into the Navy.

   Synonyms:

   pressgang

   1. (historical, transitive) To seize or confiscate (property) by force, especially for military use.
      • The liner was impressed as a troop carrier.
      • the second £5,000 imprest for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners1665 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 19 April 1665]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I...

Noun

IPA/ˈɪmpɹɛs/

impress (plural impresses)

1. The act of impressing.
2. An impression; an impressed image or copy of something.
   • This weak impress of love is as a figure / Trenched in ice.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • We know that you were pressed for money, that you took an impress of the keys which your brother held […]1908, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans, Norton, published 2005, page 1330
3. A stamp or seal used to make an impression.
4. An impression on the mind, imagination etc.
   • 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, published 2009, page 187
5. Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp.
   • we have God surveying the works of the creation, and leaving this general impress or character upon them1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London
   • As he himself [Sir Nigel Gresley] would doubtless have wished, he died in harness; only a few weeks previously he had been present at the first public view of his latest design, the Bantam Cock, which, like most of his products, bore all over it the impress of his personality.1941 June, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practive and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 260
6. A heraldic device; an impresa.
   • It commonly occurred that Knights who , on entering the Lists , wished to conceal their identity , would assume a Device with an allusive Motto , which was designated an IMPRESS1869, John Edwin Cussans, Handbook of Heraldry
   • To describe […] emblazon'd Shields, / Impreses quaint.1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC...
7. 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?c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...