stamp
/stæmp/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.11 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An indentation, imprint, or mark made by stamping.
noun
A device for imprinting designs.
noun
A small piece of paper, with a design and a face value, used to prepay postage or other dues such as tax or licence fees.
Example Sentences
- "The horse gave two quick stamps and rose up on its hind legs."
- "Just then there was a sound of footsteps, and the Boy ran past near them, and with a stamp of feet and a flash of white tails the two strange rabbits disappeared."
- "My passport has quite a collection of stamps."
- "She loved to make designs with her collection of stamps."
- "Close to the register is a box of stamps adorned with logos of local business, including one for B cup cafe around the block."
- "I need one first-class stamp to send this letter."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *stampōną Proto-Germanic *stampijaną? Proto-West Germanic *stampijander. Old English stempan Old English *stampian Middle English stampen English stamp From Middle English stampen (“to pound, crush”), from assumed Old English *stampian, variant of Old English stempan (“to crush, pound, pound in mortar, stamp”), from Proto-West Germanic *stampōn, *stampijan, from Proto-Germanic *stampōną, *stampijaną (“to trample, beat”), from Proto-Indo-European *stemb- (“to trample down”). Cognate with Dutch stampen (“to stamp, pitch”), German stampfen (“to stamp”), Danish stampe (“to stamp”), Swedish stampa (“to stomp”), Occitan estampar, Polish stąpać (“to step, treat”). See also stomp, step. Marks indicating that postage had been paid were originally made by stamping the item to be mailed; when affixed pieces of paper were introduced for this purpose, the term “stamp” was transferred to cover this new form.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
stamps (plural)
stamps (present, singular)
stamping (participle, present)
stamped (participle, past)
stamped (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
stamped (first person, past)
stampest (archaic, present)
stamped (past, second person)
stampedst (archaic, past)
stampeth (archaic, present)
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
date stamp
postage stamp
rubber stamp
stamp album
stamp-collecting
stamp duty
stamping ground
stamp of approval