impress Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the act of coercing someone into government service
    impressment.
  2. verb have an emotional or cognitive impact upon
    strike; affect; move.
    • This child impressed me as unusually mature
    • This behavior struck me as odd
  3. verb impress positively
    • The young chess player impressed her audience
  4. verb produce or try to produce a vivid impression of
    ingrain; instill.
    • Mother tried to ingrain respect for our elders in us
  5. verb mark or stamp with or as if with pressure
    imprint.
    • To make a batik, you impress a design with wax
  6. verb reproduce by printing
    print.
  7. verb take (someone) against his will for compulsory service, especially on board a ship
    shanghai.
    • The men were shanghaied after being drugged
  8. verb dye (fabric) before it is spun
    yarn-dye.

WordNet

Im*press" transitive verb
Etymology
L. impressus, p. p. of imprimere to impress; pref. im- in, on + premere to press. See Press to squeeze, and cf. Imprint.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Impressed ; present participle & verbal noun Impressing
Definitions
  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. See Imprest, Impress, n., 5. 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.
Im*press" intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To be impressed; to rest. Obs.
    Such fiendly thoughts in his heart impress. Chaucer.
Im"press noun
Wordforms
plural Impresses
Definitions
  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. See Imprest, Press to force into service. 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.

Webster 1913