Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act or policy of seizing persons and compelling them to serve in the military, especially in naval forces.
  • noun The act or policy of seizing property for public use, especially for military purposes.
  • noun The act of imposing a constructive trust or a lien upon property, as a matter of equity, to protect a person without legal title but with a legally recognized interest.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of impressing; the act of seizing for public use, or of compelling to enter the public service; compulsion to serve: as, the impressment of provisions, or of sailors or nurses.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of seizing for public use, or of impressing into public service; compulsion to serve.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act of seizing for public use; impressing into public service.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of coercing someone into government service

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From impress +‎ -ment.

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