impose

Definition

To physically lay or place (something) on another thing; to deposit, to put, to set.

Etymology

The verb is derived from Late Middle English imposen (“to place, set; to impose (a duty, etc.)”), borrowed from Middle French imposer, and Old French emposer, enposer (“to impose (a duty, tax, etc.)”) (modern French imposer), from im-, em- (variants of en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’)) + poser (“to place, put”), modelled after: * Latin impōnere (“to place or set (something) on; (figurative) to impose (a duty, tax, etc.)”), from im- (variant of in- (prefix meaning ‘on, upon’)) + pōnō (“to place, put; etc.”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂pó, *h₂epó (“away; off”) + *tḱey- (“to cultivate; to live; to settle”)); and * Latin impositus (“established; put upon, imposed”), the perfect passive participle of impōnō: see above. The noun is derived from the verb.

Example Sentences

• "[H]is Svvaine / Strevv'd faire greene Oſiers; and impoſ'd thereon / A good ſoft Sheepeskin, vvhich made him a Throne."
• "It vvas here likevviſe, in a place vvhere the diſtance betvveen the oppoſite banks cannot exceed five hundred paces, that Xerxes impoſed a ſtupendous bridge of boats, for the purpoſe of tranſporting into Europe an hundred and ſeventy myriads of barbarians."
• "[Jesus] ſaid to them, Suffer the litle children to come vnto me, and prohibit them not, for the kingdom of God is for ſuch. […] And embracing them, and impoſing hands vpon them, he bleſſed them."

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