Definition of "impress"

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

Okay, so you're a rocket scientist / That don't impress me much

1998, “That Don't Impress Me Much”, in Come On Over, performed by Shania Twain

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

Gentle lady, / When I did first impart my love to you.

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]

impress the motives and methods of persuasion upon our own hearts, till we feel the force and power of them.

1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […]

the second £5,000 imprest for the service of the sick and wounded prisoners

1665 April 29 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819

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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]

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

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

we have God surveying the works of the creation, and leaving this general impress or character upon them

1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727

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

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 IMPRESS

1869, John Edwin Cussans, Handbook of Heraldry

To describe […] emblazon'd Shields, / Impreses quaint.

1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

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 Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]