imprimatur
[im-pri-mah-ter, -mey-, -prahy-]
- an official license to print or publish a book, pamphlet, etc., especially a license issued by a censor of the Roman Catholic Church.Compare nihil obstat.
- sanction or approval; support: Our plan has the company president's imprimatur.
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Origin of imprimatur
1630–40; < New Latin: let it be printed, Latin: let it be made by pressing upon (something); see impress1
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for imprimatur
Contemporary Examples
What makes CEOs think that putting their imprimatur on a political movement will increase public pressure on the two parties?
From a Wall Street perspective, Buffett got privileged, and not level-playing-field, access as a payoff for his imprimatur.
Obama Extols Warren Buffett as Hero, But to Wall Street He’s No AngelZachary Karabell
January 26, 2012
Historical Examples
I mean it depends on his permission; his imprimatur; his nihil obstat.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
Work of men's hands they may be, but they bear the imprimatur of nature.
Greener Than You ThinkWard Moore
In the new creation of the human mind it was Imprimatur—let it be printed.
Printing and the RenaissanceJohn Rothwell Slater
The Vice-Chancellor's imprimatur (for it was printed at Oxford) is dated the 19th, 1713.
Lives of the Poets: Gay, Thomson, Young, and OthersSamuel Johnson
This imprimatur is stamped upon the first page of the text in every book.
Ti-Ping Tien-KwohAugustus F. Lindley
imprimatur
- RC Church a licence granted by a bishop certifying the Church's approval of a book to be published
- sanction, authority, or approval, esp for something to be printed
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Word Origin
C17: New Latin, literally: let it be printed
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for imprimatur
n.
1640, Modern Latin, literally "let it be printed," the formula of a book licenser, third person singular present subjunctive passive of Latin imprimere "to print" (see impress). Originally of state license to print books, later only of Roman Catholic Church.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper