impose
Formsimposes, imposing, imposed
Formsimposes, imposing, imposed
Pluralimposes
- 1To establish or enforce a rule, tax, or penalty by authority, especially one people find burdensome.
The government decided to impose a new tax on imported cars.
Officials imposed strict curfews across the region after the riots.
Similarlevy, enforce, introduce, inflict, institute
Oppositelift, abolish, remove, repeal
Note
The modern workhorse sense, a figurative stretch of the literal 'place on'. What was once set on a surface is now laid on people: a tax, a curfew, sanctions. The burden is the direct object, and on or upon introduces whoever must bear it, as in sanctions imposed on a country. Contrast the obsolete taxing verb, where the thing taxed followed upon and no object appeared.
- 2To intrude or encroach on someone, especially unfairly; to presume on another's kindness or to be a burden.
I would hate to impose on you during such a busy week.
He apologized for imposing on their hospitality for so long.
Similarpresume
Note
Most at home in polite apology: I don't wish to impose upon you. The verb is intransitive here, and on or upon introduces whoever bears the burden. That can be a host, their hospitality, or even a king's prerogative, as Samuel Pepys has it in 1667. The same construction carries the 'deceive' meaning, so context decides. Imposing on a friend's kindness is presuming, not cheating.
- 3
- 4To deceive or cheat someone, often by trickery or stealth; to take advantage through dishonesty.
Swindlers impose upon the unwary with promises of easy riches.
She realized too late that the charming stranger had imposed upon her.
Similardeceive, cheat, trick, swindle, dupe
Note
Here the burden laid on someone is a falsehood. Richard Francis Burton's translation of the tale of Ma'aruf the Cobbler (1886) sets it beside a plainer verb: thou imposedst upon my sire and deceivedst him. The deceived person follows on or upon, and the trick itself is never the object. The construction now has a literary, slightly old-fashioned ring.
- 5To set something down upon another object; to place or deposit it there.
The workers impose the capstone upon the pillar at dawn.
[H]is Svvaine / Strevv'd faire greene Oſiers; and impoſ'd thereon / A good ſoft Sheepeskin, vvhich made him a Throne.
1614, Homer, “The Sixteenth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”Similarlay
Note
The literal sense at the root of the word: Middle French imposer, from im- 'in, into' plus poser 'to place, put'. Today it sounds archaic, and lay, put or set do the work instead. Older writers used it freely for solid things. George Chapman's Homer has a soft sheepskin imposed on a bed of osiers, and Edward Gibbon (1781) has Xerxes impose a bridge of boats between two banks.
- 6To lay one's hands on a person as a blessing during rites such as confirmation or ordination.
During the ordination, the archbishop imposed his hands upon the young deacon.
[T]hat the Apoſtolate might be ſucceſſive and perpetuall, Chriſt gave them a povver of ordination, that by impoſing hands on others they might impart that povver vvhich they receiued from Chriſt.
1642, Jer[emy] Taylor, “§ 3. With a Power of Joyning Others and Appointing Successors in the Apostolate.”Similarlay
Note
A church word for a gesture of blessing, with hands as its object: imposing hands upon them. Jeremy Taylor in 1642 explains why it mattered in ordination: by imposing hands on others, the apostles could pass on the power they had received from Christ. The verb is archaic here. Modern usage says lay hands on, which is why the rite is known as the laying on of hands.
- 7To lay columns or pages of type in proper order on a press bed and secure them in a chase ready for printing.
The compositor imposed eight pages of type onto the press bed.
Apprentices learn to impose the formes correctly before locking the chase.
Note
A printer's craft term. The skill lies in arranging pages so that, once the sheet is printed and folded, they fall in reading order. Edward H. Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary (1877) notes that small formats such as 24mo, 32mo and 48mo can even be imposed so as to be cut before folding. The flat surface used for the job is the imposing stone.
- 8To place a tax, levy, or duty on something or someone.
Note
An obsolete taxing verb in which the goods taxed follow upon. Walter Raleigh writes that to impose upon all things brought into the kingdom is very ancient. Such imposing, once long continued, came to be called customs, because subjects were accustomed to pay it. Robert Browning still reaches for it in 1871. Modern English names the tax instead: impose a duty on imports.
- 9The act of placing a burdensome duty, task, or obligation on someone; an imposition.
The steward added yet another impose to the tenants' long list of duties.
According to your Ladiſhips impoſe, / I am thus early come, to knovv vvhat ſeruice / It is your pleaſure to command me in.
c. 1590, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”Note
A noun that did not survive: its work passed to imposition. Shakespeare uses it in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, where a servant arrives 'According to your Ladyship's impose'. There it means a command laid on him. Because the noun is obsolete, use it only to evoke period speech. Otherwise, imposition or simply bidding says the same thing today.
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Practice
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Origin
The verb comes from Late Middle English imposen, borrowed from Middle French imposer and Old French emposer ('to impose a duty, tax, etc.'). It was built from a prefix meaning 'in, into' plus poser ('to place, put'), modelled on Latin impōnere ('to set something on; to impose a duty or tax'), from a prefix meaning 'on, upon' plus pōnō ('to place, put'). The noun comes from the verb.