from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Impress \Im"press\, n.; pl. {Impresses}.
1. The act of impressing or making.
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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.
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The impresses of the insides of these shells.
--Woodward.
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This weak impress of love is as a figure
Trenched in ice. --Shak.
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3. Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp. --South.
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4. A device. See {Impresa}. --Cussans.
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To describe . . . emblazoned shields,
Impresses quaint. --Milton.
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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.
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Why such impress of shipwrights? --Shak.
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{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.
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