IMPOSE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Impose

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/ɪmpˈoʊz/ Listen

verb

Impose v. t. (past & past part. imposed; pres. part. imposing)

To lay on; to set or place; to put; to deposit. "Cakes of salt and barley (she) did impose Within a wicker basket."

To lay as a charge, burden, tax, duty, obligation, command, penalty, etc.; to enjoin; to levy; to inflict; as, to impose a toll or tribute. "What fates impose, that men must needs abide." "Death is the penalty imposed." "Thou on the deep imposest nobler laws."

(Eccl.) To lay on, as the hands, in the religious rites of confirmation and ordination.

(Print.) To arrange in proper order on a table of stone or metal and lock up in a chase for printing; said of columns or pages of type, forms, etc.

Impose v. i. To practice tricks or deception.

To impose on or To impose upon,

(a)

to pass or put a trick on; to delude; to cheat; to defraud. "He imposes on himself, and mistakes words for things."

(b)

to place an unwelcome burden or obligation on (another person); as, she imposed on her friend to drive her daughter to school.

(c)

to take unfair advantage of (a person, a friendship); as, he imposed on his friendship with The Mayor to gain business.

noun

Impose n. A command; injunction. (Obs.)

See images of 'Impose'

Etymology of 'Impose'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Impose" Quotes from Famous Books

... was, Beauvouloir saw plainly that to a being so delicately organized as Etienne marriage must come as a slow and gentle inspiration, communicating new powers to his being and vivifying it with the fires of love. As he had said to the father, to impose a wife on Etienne would be to kill him. Above all it was important that the young recluse should not be alarmed at the thought of marriage, of which he knew nothing, or be made aware of the object of his father's wishes. ...

— The Hated Son • Honore de Balzac

... his head and heaved a deep sigh. I could not help pitying the unfortunate man. I should have liked to say something in his favour; but the cold, haughty, nay, contemptuous attitude of Francis seemed to impose silence on me. There must be some reason, I felt sure, for her inexorable severity; consequently ...

— Major Frank • A. L. G. Bosboom-Toussaint

... she was free; she knew that she could impose herself on her mother; never again would she be the slave of an unreasoning tyrant; yet she was gloomy and without hope. She had hated the unreasoning tyrant; yet she felt very sorry for him because he was dead. And though she felt very sorry for him, she detested ...

— The Lion's Share • E. Arnold Bennett

... delivered: "We are gathered here to-night as patriotic citizens anxious to do something toward ... protecting the fair fame of our nation against shame and scandal." It is not recorded that anybody smiled at this. Indeed, the astonishing thing about this business is that these people seem able to impose successfully on one another. But Mr. Cleveland is even better at the other kind, as for example: "Agitators and demagogues," "ruthless agitators," "sordid greed," "inflamed with tales of an ancient crime against their rights," "unfortunate ...

— The Arena - Volume 18, No. 92, July, 1897 • Various

... uttered by one big-wigged judge following a reverend line of ghostly big-wigs gone before that have said the same foolish things for ages—these all take considerable advantage from the power of accessories to impose upon the human imagination. The divinity that hedges kings is the result of a set of stage-fixings which make the little great, and half the horror inspired by the priest's curse is derived from bell and book ...

— The Faith Doctor - A Story of New York • Edward Eggleston

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