Also 3–7 stampe, 4–5 staumpe, 6 stampp. [Early ME. stampen (? OE. *stampian) = (M)LG., (M)D., WFris. stampe, NFris. stampi to stamp with the foot, to pound, OHG. stamfôn to pound (only once, gl. comminuere; MHG., mod.G. stampfen to stamp with the foot, to pound, bray in a mortar), ON. stappa (:—*stampa) to stamp with the foot, to bray in a mortar, (M)Sw. stampa, (M)Da. stampe:—OTeut. *stampōjan, f. *stampo-z masc., pestle, mortar (MLG. stamp, OHG., MHG., mod.G. stampf masc.) A parallel formation from the same base is OE. stęmpan to bray in a mortar (occurring only once; cf. á-stęmpan to stamp with a die, stęmping-ísern stamping-iron) = MLG. stempen, WFris. stimpe, NFris. stemp, MHG., mod.G. (? obs.) stempfen:—OTeut. type *stampjan; cf. MLG., mod.G. stempel, MHG. stempfel stamp, die. The Teut. *stamp- is the source of the Com. Rom. verb represented by It. stampare to tread, press, print, Pr., Sp., Pg. estampar to stamp, print, OF. estamper (mod.F. estamper, in some technical senses étamper) to stamp; whence the verbal noun It. stampa press, printing-press, Sp., Pg. estampa, F. estampe engraving, estampe, éstampe stamp, die.
The view stated above seems on the whole more likely than the alternative supposition that the verb did not exist in OE., but is solely an adoption of OF. estamper (see above). At the same time there can be little doubt that the sense-development of the Eng. verb has been influenced by the uses of its Fr. cognate.
The Teut. root *stamp- is prob. a nasalized form of *stap- to tread; if so the primary sense of the verb would seem to be that of branch II below, from which the other senses might easily be derived. Some scholars regard the root (pre-Teut. *stomb-) as cogn. w. Gr. στεμβ-ειν ? to shake, ? to maltreat (occurring only once); radical connection with STUMP sb. has also been suggested.]
I. † 1. trans. To bray in a mortar; to beat to a pulp or powder; to pound. Also absol. Obs.
[c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 378. Nim readstalede harhuna & ysopo, & stemp & do on ænne neowan pott.]
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, Hie [sc. rihte ȝeleaue] is ȝelich ðe seneueies corne,… Æure ðe mann ðe hit more [read ðe more ðe hit mann] bat and stampeþ, ðe hit strengere and betre is.
13[?]. K. Alis., 332. Herbes he tok in an herber, And stamped heom in a morter.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 210. This Cookes, how they stampe and streyne and grynde, And turnen substaunce in to Accident.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxxxix. (1495), 838. Coloquintida … helpyth ayenst fleen yf it is stampyd and medlyd wyth water and spronge in the place there as many fleen ben.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 56. Take malowe leues & leues of violet, & þe role of holihocke; seþe hem weel in water, & staumpe hem.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 112 b. Yf all the espyces of the world had ben stamped to gydre it shold not haue smellyd so well. Ibid. (c. 1489), Sonnes of Aymon, vii. 169. Thenne toke Mawgis an herbe, & stamped it vpon a stone wyth the pomell of his swerde and tempered it wyth water.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 602. Stamp good store of ripe Sloes.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., II. 46. Malaghie reasons … either stampt or unstampt.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 386. Pelagonius would haue him to drink Parsly stampt with wine.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 650. They stamp their milia as we do spice.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 45. I conceiue that some Decoction of Bones, and Sinewes, stamped, and well strained, would bee a very Nourishing Broth.
1683. Salmon, Doron Med., I. 113. Pultise is made of green Herbs stampt or of their juyces.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 24 Aug. 1678. They cull the raggs … then they stamp them in troughs to a papp with pestles.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 123. A Stone Mortar to stamp or beat some Corn in.
1747. Wesley, Prim. Physick (1762), 116. A Plaister of Ground Ivy stampt.
1764. Eliz. Moxon, Eng. Housew. (ed. 9), 165. Stamp your berries and throw them into your water as you stamp them.
† b. To crush or press (fruit, esp. crabs) to extract the juice; to press (wine) out of grapes.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, III. v. (Skeat), 114. But it the better be stamped, and the venomous jeuse out-wrongen, it is lykely to enpoysonen al tho that therof tasten.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.), 134. Out of grapes stampyng the wyne.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 46. Stamp crabs that may, for rotting away.
1594. Lyly, Mother Bombie, III. iv. It was crabbs she stampt, and stole away one to make her a face.
1597. Deloney, Gentle Craft, Wks. (1912), 151. Would you haue him to stampe the crab.
1618. W. Lawson, New Orchard & Gard., xvi. (1623), 52. Dresse euery Apple,… stamp them, and straine them [etc.].
c. To thresh. Obs. exc. dial. ‘to beat or break the awns from barley, etc., to thresh flax’ (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
1388. Wyclif, Isa. xxv. 10. Moab schal be threischid vndur hym, as chaffis be stampid [Vulg. teruntur] in a wayn.
1856. Morton, Cycl. Agric., II. 103/2. Ordinarily the grain [barley] is spread on the floor of the barn, and stamped by either of the instruments [depicted].
d. To crush (ore); in mod. use, by means of the machine called a ‘stamp.’
1568. in Sel. Charters Trading Co. (Selden Soc.), 18. The same ores … to drain break stamp wash boil [etc.].
1859. R. Hunt, Guide Mus. Pract. Geol. (ed. 2), 261. The dressing floors, where the ores are stamped and prepared for the market.
e. To drive in (a blasting charge).
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 277. While engaged in stamping a blasting charge in a rock with a pointed iron bar … the charge suddenly exploded.
II. To bring down the foot heavily. (Cf. STRAMP v.)
2. intr. a. To bring the sole of one’s foot suddenly and forcibly down (upon the ground or floor, or some other object), with the object of crushing or beating down something.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 8590. Þe devels salle ay opon þam gang, And ay on þam stamp with þair feth omang.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 2154. Tho behynde … troden fast on other heles And stampen as men doon aftir eles.
1719. Young, Revenge, I. i. This usage is like stamping on the murder’d, When life is fled.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxiii. Stamping upon the coals with the heel of his boot.
b. To strike the ground or floor forcibly with the sole of one’s foot, in order, e.g., to make a noise that will serve as a signal, to emphasize a command or an expression of firm resolve, to warm one’s feet, etc. Phrase, to stamp with one’s foot.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. vi. 11. Smyte thine hondes together, and stampe with thy fete.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Supplodo, to stampe or make noise with the fete.
1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV. (1550), 43 b. The sayd Lewes conterfeited the fashion and gesture of the duke of Burgoyn, & began to stampe with his fote on the ground.
1662. Greenhalgh, in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. II. IV. 15. When mention was made of the Edomites, Philistines, or any enemies of … Israel’s, they stamped strongly with their feet.
1705. H. Blackwell, Engl. Fencing-Master, 16. Must I stamp with my Foot when I make those Faints?
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), III. 143. As far as can be conjectured from the sound caused by stamping with the foot against the bottom, there is another cavity under it.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, IX. xxviii. Thrice on the floor she stampt.
1815. Scott, Guy M., liii. She paused an instant … and stamped upon the ground, which … shewed vestiges of having been recently moved.
1823. Roland, Fencing, 27. To ascertain whether you are firmly and correctly placed in this posture, it will be necessary to make an Appel. This is performed by stamping twice with the right foot.
1850. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xiii. (1865), II. 114. I have only to stamp with my foot, be said,… to raise legions from the soil of Italy.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xi. 78. I again resorted to stamping to secure a footing.
c. esp. as an instinctive expression of fury; formerly often † to stamp and stare. Hence (now only U.S.), To be very angry.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, l. (Catherine), 1028. He … rathly ruschit to and fra,… & sturly stampit als, & steryt.
1530. Palsgr., 732/2. I stampe, I stare, as one doth that taketh on in his angyr, je me demayne. You never sawe man stampe as he dyd.
a. 1534. Coventry Corpus Chr. Plays, I. 779. I stampe! I stare! I loke all abowt!
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 185. Many men stamped [L. fremebant enim plerique] for the murther of Rincon and Fregose.
1577. Kendall, Flowers of Epigr., Trifles, 24 b. He stamps, he stares, he taketh on: he knowes not what to doe.
1657. Billingsly, Brachy-Martyrol., xii. 39. How he did stamp, did stare like one distracted.
1681. [D’Urfey], Progr. Honesty, viii. 9. And as a stubborn Child … Vext at some trifle, stamps, lies down and cries.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 429, ¶ 17. The Petitioner swore, stamped, and threw down his Cards.
1842. Lover, Handy Andy, xix. O’Grady stamped and swore with rage.
1866. ‘L. Carroll,’ Alice in Wonderland, viii. The Queen … went stamping about, and shouting ‘Off with his head!’
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 552. Stamp, to, commonly pronounced stomp, has, in the South especially, the meaning of being very angry.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, liv. He stamped, and cursed the Christians by all his gods.
1891. E. Roper, By Track & Trail, ii. 21. The Colonel stamped and groaned and swore.
d. said of a horse.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleasure, xxviii. (Percy Soc.), 134. My stede Galantyse … began to stampe full marveylously.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, VIII. 72. The paine, so sore the courser stung, (Pierc’t to the braine) he stampt and plung’d.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xxxi. Shouting clans or squadrons stamping.
1865. Alex. Smith, Summer in Skye, II. 107. The horses stamped and pawed in their stables.
e. To walk with a heavy, ‘pounding’ tread; to walk noisily or laboriously, tramp.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, iii. 93. Reynawde … asked who was there that maketh thys noyse?… It is evyl doone for to go thus stampyng at this houre.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccxv. 725. Yonder men of armes … haue all this laste day traueyled, and all this nyght stamped in the myre.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 56. Men, who … come stamping in with their high clouted shooes, yet one of good understanding.
1753. Miss Collier, Art Torment., I. ii. (1811), 63. Tell her you wonder how she can stamp about the floor in such a manner, as if she had wooden shoes on.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, iii. The capstan was manned, and the crew stamped round to a point of war.
1859. FitzGerald, Omar, xvii. And Bahrám, that great Hunter—the Wild Ass Stamps o’er his Head, and he lies fast asleep.
f. Used transf. of a marine engine.
1892. Kipling, Barrack-r. Ballads, L’Envoi, ix. And the engines stamp and ring, and the wet bows reel and swing.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 124. The Mové … stamps steadily along past the wooded shore.
3. trans. a. With complementary adv. or phrase: To affect in the specified way by stamping; esp. to trample violently down, to the ground.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 270. Ane othir sone doune fra his hors he bar, Stampyt to grounde, and drownyt with outyn mar.
1552. Huloet, Stampe vnder fete, pessundo.
1659. D. Pell, Impr. Sea, 127. When … divisions are made in your ships, salve them up again, or else couragiously stamp them down.
1883. E. P. Roe, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 51/2. Leonard was soon heard stamping the snow from his boots on the back piazza.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, III. xii. ‘The Lord’s blessing, Master Philip——’ she began, but the horse’s feet stamped out everything.
b. To bring down the sole or heel forcibly upon. Now somewhat rare. † Also with off.
1602. Span. Trag., Addit. III. xii a. 19. I … Beat at the bushes, stampe our grandam earth Diue in the water, and stare vp to heauen, Yet cannot I behold my sonne Horatio.
1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., I. 446. He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the Ground.
1815. Scott, Guy M., x. The short turf … was much trampled, as if stamped by the heels of men in a mortal struggle.
1892. Daily News, 20 May, 5/7. Hundreds of feet angrily stamped the ground.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, 216. The Halakazi are no more a tribe, since Umslopogaas stamped them with his feet.
c. To stamp one’s foot = sense 2.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 123. She furious stampt her shoeless foot aground.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., xx. 229. He would stamp his foot on the ground.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, I. xiii. 146. Faust (stamping his foot).
1866. G. Macdonald, Ann. Q. Neighb., xxvii. She stamped her little foot.
d. To stamp out: to extinguish (a fire) by trampling on it. Hence, transf. to extirpate (a disease, a heresy, etc.), suppress (a rebellion) by resorting to vigorous measures; occas. to exterminate (a people).
1851. Mrs. Browning, Casa Guidi Wind., 107. Ye stamp.no nation out, though day and night Ye tread them with that absolute heel which [etc.].
1866. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., Ser. II. II. I. 271. Measures … by which, to use a now prevalent expression, the disease was ‘stamped out.’
1868. Sir J. Y. Simpson, in Med. Times & Gaz., 4 Jan., 5/2. The public mind has during the last two or three years become familiarised with the idea of ‘stamping out’ a disease, in the instance of the rinderpest.
1868. G. Duff, Pol. Surv., 78. The Taeping insurrection was stamped out utterly three years ago.
a. 1873. Deutsch, Lit. Rem., 289. The very remembrance of it was stamped out.
1883. Manch. Guardian, 17 Oct., 5/2. Earl Spencer … remarked that in Scotland they had, by a strict enforcement of the rules, stamped out the disease altogether.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, 208. If these demands were granted, then he would spare them,… if not, he would stamp them out.
1899. J. Mathew, Eaglehawk & Crow, ix. 117. Some fires had to be stamped out by the youths with their naked feet.
III. To strike an impression on something.
4. To impress with an embossed or intaglio device or lettering by means of a die and the impact of a hammer or machinery; to make (a coin, a medal) by this process.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 415 b. In his letters and coyne, that he stamped [in … moneta quam cuderet], used stil the name of elector.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 75. He stamped certaine golden pieces of coine.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 284. Also they [the Irish] had silver groats, called crosse-keele groats, stamped with the Popes tripple Crowne.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 177. Among many … sorts of coine anciently famous, the Cyziceni stateres were most of all renowned as being well stamped.
1670. Pettus, Fodinæ Reg., 41. Lastly, the Moniers, who are some to sheer the Monie,… some to stamp or coin it.
1697. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1707), 126. It’s Gates are vastly large, and cover’d with Brass, stampt all over with Arab Characters.
1710. W. King, Heathen Gods & Heroes, vii. (1722), 15. Money of Brass was stamp’d, with a Ship on the one side … and the Figure of Janus with a double Face on the other.
1736. Gentl. Mag., VI. 683/2. There having been a great scarcity of Copper and Silver Coin in Ireland … Traders … hit on a Method of stamping Pieces of Silver bearing a promissory Note of three Pence each.
1818. Stoddart, Gram., in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), I. 156/1. A preposition is not like a piece of money stamped to pass for a certain value.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. iii. 59. The pieces of money … are stamped with the earliest mark of coinage.
1865. Street, Gothic Archit. Spain, 218. All the Moorish decorative work … was evidently cut and carved as if it had been stone, and seldom, if ever, I think, stamped or moulded, according to the mistaken practice of the present day.
transf. and fig. 1611. Shaks., Cymb., II. v. 5. That most venerable man, which I Did call my Father, was, I know not where When I was stampt. Some Coyner with his Tooles Made me a counterfeit.
1614. J. Taylor (Water P.), Nipping Abuses, B 3 b. My pulsiue braine no Art affoords, To mint, or stampe, or forge new coined words.
1799. Campbell, Pleas. Hope, I. 498. Nature stamp’d us in a heavenly mould.
b. To impress (a device, lettering, etc.) by means of a die.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 598. The Cyrenæans to sooth this proud King … stamped his shape in their coynes.
1705. Addison, Italy, Rome, 351. But it is very well known that an Emperor often stamp’d on his Coins the Face or Ornaments of his Collegue.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., viii. He now wore a hat, the band of which was garnished with … a dozen of little paltry figures of saints stamped in lead.
transf. and fig. 1589. Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 43. So deepe were the characters stamped in my inwarde senses, that obliuion can neuer race out the forme of her excellence.
a. 1631. Donne, Serm., vii. (1640), 62. God stampeth his Image upon us, and so God is Statuarius, our Minter, our Statuary.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, ccxxvi. 198. She had the Flower-de-Luce Stamp’d, we must not say Branded upon her Shoulder.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. xcviii. What is the worst of woes that wait on age? What stamps the wrinkle deeper on the brow?
c. Bookbinding. To impress a pattern on (leather) by means of dies.
1863. Hotten, Hand-bk. Topogr., 103/2. 4to, old calf gilt, sides stamped.
d. To make by cutting out with a die.
1798. Hull Advertiser, 18 Aug., 3/3. A man has invented an engine that will stamp or cut two hundred horse shoes in one hour.
1862. Morrall, Needle Making, 17. In 1811, Abel and Michael Morrall … commenced stamping needles, and introduced the first eye into the needles by means of the stamp. What is meant by the first eye is an indenture half through the head of the needle.
e. To stamp out: to make (paste) into ‘rounds,’ to fashion (‘rounds’ of paste) by pressure with a circular cutter.
1845. Eliza Acton, Mod. Cookery (ed. 2), 457. Small rounds of bread stamped out with a plain … paste-cutter.
1877. Cassell’s Dict. Cookery, 17. Stamp out with a small cup-plate as many rounds as you wish to make pasties. Ibid., 19. Make a light sweet crust, stamp it out in small rounds.
5. To mark (paper or textile material) with a device either impressed in relief or intaglio, imparted to the surface by ink or pigment, or produced by both processes combined. Also, to impress (a device) on paper, etc., by means of a die or engraved plate. † Also with off.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, VI. v. 442. To make their impressions, they grave a boord or plank with the figures they will print, then do they stampe as many leaves of paper as they list.
1630. [see STAMPING vbl. sb. 1].
1753. Scots Mag., Feb., 100/2. Each dozen of … handkerchiefs … are stamped twice.
1782. V. Knox, Ess., cxxxvii. ¶ 6. A few other books are extant, which are, on good reasons, judged to have been stamped, not printed secundum artem.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, lxxxv. A letter was brought me, stamped with the foreign post mark.
1879. G. Gladstone, Calico Printing, in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 197/2. Block printing … consists in stamping the calico with a pattern raised in relief.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, xi. I know the paper and the crest stamped outside.
1885. ‘H. Conway,’ Family Affair, viii. This jacket … was stamped in various places with the government broad arrow.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, xxi. 261. The address … was there in full, and she noticed that it was also stamped on the envelope.
† b. To print (a book, etc.). Obs. [Cf. It. stampare.]
1555. R. Braham, Lydgate’s Chron. Troy, To Rdr. 1/2. With … great paynes causing the same to be perfected and stamped as it is nowe read.
1556. Charter Stationers Co., in Entick, London (1766), IV. 225. Several seditious and heretical books,… are daily published, stamped and printed by divers persons.
1609. W. Bedell, Lett. to Newton, 1 Jan. in Two Biog. W. B. (1902), 245. He told me further of a deliberation he had, to remove himself hence either into Germany or the Grizons, to stamp that, and sundry other things of the like nature. Ibid. (1624), Lett., iv. 79. Wee had an Epistle stampt at Venice, pretended to bee written at Rome. Ibid., v. 85. These wordes Posseuine stamps in his former Relation in Capitall letters.
6. To impress with a device or lettering indicating genuineness, quality, or official inspection and approval; to impress (a device, etc.) on merchandise, weights or measures, or the like, for this purpose.
1564. Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1875), III. 187. Quha … sall stamp samekill [cloth] as beis sufficient thairof with the said stamp in leid.
1631. Letters patent Sir W. Russell, etc. That a stamp … to bee engraven with a Rose and Crown shall be stamped, sealed or marked on all the soapes … the better to distinguish the said soape from all counterfett soape.
1638. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 315/1. To mark and stamp all firlottis, peckis, pund-wechtis, staine-wechtis, elnewandis [etc.].
1795. Frankland, in Phil. Trans., LXXXV. 296. The Sheffield artists, who stamp much low-priced work with the title of cast steel.
1846. Greener, Sci. Gunnery, 209. Such barrels are, of course, sent back unmarked. Those that are found satisfactory are duly stamped and taken home.
1885. Kay, in Law Times’ Rep., LIII. 490/2. The words … were never stamped on goods, or advertised as a trade mark.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. Advt. p. cxxi. Messrs. —— warn customers before purchasing to see that every Lens is stamped with their Trade Mark.
7. To impress with an official stamp or mark indicating that a duty or tax has been paid. In later use also, to attach an adhesive ‘stamp’ to.
1765. Blackstone, Comm., I. viii. 313. A fifth branch of the perpetual revenue consists in the stamp duties…. These imposts are very various, according to the nature of the thing stamped.
1837. R. Hill, Post Office Reform, 19. The duties of the Clerks in the London Office … are … to stamp the letters; to assort them for delivery [etc.].
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 147. If you need a reply, send … an envelope directed and stamped.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, iii. He wrote a hasty line to the effect that [etc.]…. When this had been sealed, stamped, and directed to Lambert, he rang and ordered his bill.
1892. Holyoake, 60 Yrs. Agitator’s Life, I. liii. 287. He [Mr. Edward Lloyd] was at once told he must stop or stamp. He stamped, raised his paper to twopence, and lost his circulation. I neither stopped nor stamped.
1907. G. John, Voice from China, xi. 239–40. We … made another attempt to get the deed stamped.
8. In various uses, orig. figurative of senses 4–6.
† a. To fabricate (an inference) out of something. Obs.
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 82 b. Out of these two monstruous falsely forged propositions, he stampeth a conclusion … no lesse false then malicious. Ibid., 152. I awayte what this choppelogicke will stampe out hereof.
b. To declare or show to be of a certain quality or nature; sometimes in bad sense, to stigmatize.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, I. ii. 7. Leo[nato] Are they [sc. the newes] good? Old [Man]. As the euents stamps them, but they haue a good couer.
a. 1720. Sewel, Hist. Quakers (1722), I. Pref. 3. Their Fear of doing or omitting anything which they judged would displease God, often hath been stampt with the odious Denomination of Stubbornness.
1853. Maurice, Proph. & Kings, xix. 339. Their literal accomplishment … stamped them as sure decrees for Jerusalem and for euery other city of the earth in all generations to come.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, II. xii. 22. And this stamps them really as Greek islands.
1871. Blackie, Four Phases, i. 137. The death of Socrates must be stamped by the impartial historian as a great social crime.
1885. Truth, 28 May, 837/1. Not to like the picture is to stamp oneself as being no judge of painting.
c. To give a mark of authoritative approval to; † to convert by authorization into.
1681–6. J. Scott, Chr. Life (1747), III. 450. By his own inherent Authority, as he was a King, he stamped those Doctrines into Laws which he taught and delivered as a Propbet.
1688. Comber, Comp. Temple (ed. 3), Pref. 2. Having … undervalued these Devotions stampt by publick Authority.
1778. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, Sept. The sanction of his good opinion … would in a manner stamp the success of my book.
1809. Pinkney, Trav. France, 268. Time has stampt his reputation.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xlviii. No lady … can possess this desideratum, until she … has been presented to her Sovereign at Court. From that august interview they come out stamped as honest women. Ibid. (1852), Esmond, II. v. The famous Mr. Congreve had stamped with his high approval … this delightful person.
a. 1853. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. xxi. 273. He has been stamped by his master’s eulogy.
d. To impress with some permanent and conspicuous characteristic.
1780. Bentham, Princ. Legisl., xiii. § 4. 6. Falsehood stamps a character with a deep and degrading stain.
1836. J. Martin, Discourses, xv. 234. The Jewish priesthood must have seemed stamped by God with something of the mystery of His own nature.
1838. Lytton, Leila, I. ii. Its beauty was singularly stamped with a grave and stately sadness. Ibid. (1838), Alice, II. i. The book that Evelyn could admire was sure to be stamped with the impress of the noble, the lovely, or the true!
e. To be a distinctive mark of; to characterize.
1833. Tennyson, Lady Clara, 40. Her manners had not that repose which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. iii. i. With that frankness of speech which stamps the independent man.
f. To impress or fix permanently (an idea, etc.) on the mind or memory.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. i. § 10. If God hath stamped an universal character of himself upon the minds of men.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., I. ii. § 1. It is an established Opinion … That there are … some primary Notions,… Characters; as it were stamped upon the Mind of Man.
1725. Watts, Logic, IV. ii. (1726), 353. Give all Diligence … that your Words, as fast as you utter them, may stamp your own Ideas exactly on the Mind of the Hearer.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. xviii. And Otway, Radcliffe, Schiller, Shakspeare’s art, Had stamp’d her image in me.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 1. A new type of belief, and of its shadow, disbelief, was stamped by the impression of his character and work into the intelligence and feeling of his own and the following times.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, vi. The picture of the streets through which he was conducted … remained forever stamped upon his memory.
g. To impose permanently (an immaterial mark or sign); to impress the signs or traces of (some quality, event, etc.) on a person or thing; to place permanently on a record or the like.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 211. The character of Antiquity, that is now stamped upon them.
1684. Contempl. St. Man, II. vi. (1699), 191. This Infamy, by some Mark of Ugliness and Deformity, shall be stamped upon their Faces and Bodies.
1756. C. Smart, trans. Horace, Epist., II. i. (1826), II. 275. If length of time makes poems better, as it does wine, I would fain know how many years will stamp a value upon writings.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-t., I. xi. 249. Conquerors, statesmen, and kings live but by their names stamped on the page of history.
1826. Disraeli, Vivian Grey, V. x. Despair was stamped on his distracted features.
1848. J. H. Newman, in W. Ward, Life (1912), I. 240. I believe those long years of anxiety have stamped themselves on my face.
1850. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), I. i. 3. The native ferocity of the people is stamped upon its earliest traditions.
1867. J. H. Parker, Introd. Gothic Archit. (ed. 3), 256. The character of each century is stamped upon its architecture.
