Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To produce (a mark or pattern) on a surface by pressure.
  • intransitive verb To produce a mark on (a surface) by pressure.
  • intransitive verb To impart a strong or vivid impression of.
  • intransitive verb To fix firmly, as in the mind.
  • intransitive verb To cause (a very young animal) to recognize and be attracted to another animal or to an object identified as the parent. Often used with on.
  • intransitive verb To modify (a gene) chemically, as by DNA methylation, affecting the gene's expression in offspring.
  • intransitive verb To become imprinted on another animal or on an object identified as the parent. Used of newborn or very young animals. Often used with on:
  • noun A mark or pattern produced by imprinting; an impression.
  • noun A distinguishing influence or effect.
  • noun A chemical modification of a gene affecting the gene's expression in offspring.
  • noun A publisher's name, often with the date, address, and edition, printed at the bottom of a title page of a publication.
  • noun A publishing business with a unique name, usually owned by a larger publishing firm.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An impression made by printing or stamping; hence, any impression or impressed effect.
  • noun The publisher's name, place, and date (if given) in a book or other publication, on the title-page or elsewhere (originally often at the end of a book); also, the printer's name and address: called respectively the publisher's and the printer's imprint.
  • To impress by printing or stamping; mark by pressure; stamp: as, a character or device imprinted on wax or metal.
  • To stamp, as letters and words on paper, by means of inked types; print.
  • To impress, as on the mind or memory; stamp.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To impress; to mark by pressure; to indent; to stamp.
  • transitive verb To stamp or mark, as letters on paper, by means of type, plates, stamps, or the like; to print the mark (figures, letters, etc., upon something).
  • transitive verb To fix indelibly or permanently, as in the mind or memory; to impress.
  • transitive verb (Ethology) To create or acquire (a behavioral pattern) by the process of imprinting.
  • noun Whatever is impressed or imprinted; the impress or mark left by something; specifically, the name of the printer or publisher (usually) with the time and place of issue, in the title-page of a book, or on any printed sheet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An impression; the mark left behind by printing something.
  • noun The name and details of a publisher or printer, as printed in a book etc.; a publishing house.
  • noun A distinctive marking, symbol or logo.
  • verb To leave a print, impression, image, etc.
  • verb To learn something indelibly at a particular stage of life, such as who one's mother is.
  • verb To mark a gene as being from a particular parent so that only one of the two copies of the gene is expressed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb establish or impress firmly in the mind
  • noun an impression produced by pressure or printing
  • noun a distinctive influence
  • verb mark or stamp with or as if with pressure
  • noun a device produced by pressure on a surface
  • noun a concavity in a surface produced by pressing
  • noun an identification of a publisher; a publisher's name along with the date and address and edition that is printed at the bottom of the title page

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English emprenten, from Old French empreinter, from empreinte, impression, from feminine past participle of empreindre, to print, from Latin imprimere, to impress; see impress.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

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  • In publishing (especially the rare books field), a statement of names of the persons (publishers, printers) responsible for the book, usually also including the date and place of publication.

    February 25, 2008