[Partly f. STAMP v., and partly ad. MF. estampe (mod.F. estampe, étampe), vbl. n. f. estamper: see STAMP v.]
I. An act of stamping.
1. A forcible downward blow with the foot.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 25. So at his sight, away his fellowes flye, And at our stampe, here ore and ore one fals.
1626. Middleton, Women Beware Women, V. i. When thou hear’st me give a stamp, down with’t.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 17. 116. She rises with a Stamp and a loud Crack of her Fan.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxxv. The repeated stamps of the heel of his heavy boot.
1827. Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 467. The ‘tipsy toss’ of that actor’s head, his rollocking look, his stamps … were worth the entirety of the drama.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 481. A dance … which consists of a wriggle and a stamp.
b. Fencing.
1705. H. Blackwell, Engl. Fencing-Master, 16. For every Longe that is made, the Right Foot comes with a Stamp.
1809. Roland, Fencing, 100. Observe, that in making the appel or stamp, that it should be done upon a firm, steady position of the guard.
† 2. A blow with the pestle in pounding. Obs.
1598. Epulario, D j. Put it into a morter to beat, but giue it but two stampes.
3. Dicing. (See quot. 1777.)
1772. Foote, Nabob, II. (1778), 28. Seven, Sir, is better nicked by a stamp…. When you want to throw six and four … you must take the long gallery, and whirl the dice to the end of the table.
1777. [T. Swift], Gamblers, 22, note. The Stamp is, when the caster, with a certain elastic spring of the wrist, rappeth the cornet or box with vehemence on the table, the dice not as yet appearing from under the box.
4. A place where horses stand (cf. stamping ground: STAMPING vbl. sb.). U.S. rare.
1791. W. Bartram, Carolina, 355. A grand forest … which we penetrated on foot a little distance to a horse-stamp.
II. An instrument for stamping.
5. An instrument for making impressions, marks, or imprints, on other bodies; a stamping-tool, an engraved block or die for impressing a mark, figure, design or the like, upon a softer material.
In quot. 1465 perh. = a branding-iron.
1465. Finchale Priory Charters, etc. (Surtees), p. ccxcix. j hewyryn, j stampe, ij ponchonz [etc.].
1548. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., IX. 281. Item for ane stampe maid to my lorde governour.
1564. Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1875), III. 187. That thair be maid ane stamp and the tounis armis thairapoun [for stamping cloth].
1644. Docq. Lett. Pat. at Oxf. (1837), 123. To make and engraue Irons and Stampes with his Majestys Effigies … and therewith to instampe and inprint all such Ingott Bullyon and plate of Gold.
1751. Act 24 Geo. II., c. 31 § 21. Every Maker and Cutter of Stamps or Seals of any kind for stamping of Cloth.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., v. No, no—my old silver stamp, with the double G upon it, will serve my turn.
1837. R. Hill, Post Office Reform, 35. The marks being given by a tell-tale stamp, which would count the letters. Ibid., 58. It would be quite practicable to construct a stamp which at one blow should impress both the date and the required charge [etc.].
1891. Sloane, Rubber Hand Stamps, xiv. (1900), 113. Stamps made from a mixture of glue, glycerine, and molasses … are adopted by the United States government for making dating stamps for use in the Post Office Department.
1904. Budge, 3rd & 4th Egypt. Rooms Brit. Mus., 109. A collection of wooden stamps used by plasterers and brickmakers.
b. esp. A die or the apparatus used in stamping a device upon a coin, token, medal or the like.
1572–3. in Swayne, Sarum Churchw. Acc. (1896), 287. Altering of the stampe and striking of ye tokins 6d.
1575. Fenton, Gold. Epist. (1582), 280. In it was alwayes kept the stampe or minte of all the monie that serued the prouince.
1600. [see SEAL sb.2 3].
1614. Camden, Rem. (ed. 2), 203. Mendlesham in Suffolke … held in fee to make the coyning stampes seruing for all England.
1662. Pepys, Diary, 24 Nov. Mr. Slingsby did show the King … the stamps of the new money that is now to be made by Blondeau’s fashion.
c. transf. and fig.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. ii. 111. His Sword, Deaths stampe, Where it did marke, it tooke from face to foot.
1645. Waller, Loving at first sight, Poems 82. Some other Nymph with colours faint And pencil slow may Cupid paint…; She has a stamp and prints the Boy.
d. Printers’ slang. (See quot.)
1875. Southward, Dict. Typogr., Stamp, a colloquial synonym for types. Stamps, types. A common expression in the printing-office is ‘picking up stamps’; i.e. composing.
1888. in Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab.
† 6. ? A printing press. To put (a book) to stamp: to print (it). Obs.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 186 b. It will neuer be better as long as thei haue the letters and stampes, therefore it wer best for your lordshippe to bye the stampes to. Ibid., 221 b. A greate boke … in a faire hand, redy to bee a copie to the printer, when the saied boke should be put to stampe.
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, L 4 b. The Doctor had some ierking Hexameters or other shortly after to passe the stampe.
1603. Daniel, Def. Ryme, G 3. That mightie confluence of Learning … which,… heere meeting then with the new inuented stampe of Printing, spread it selfe [etc.].
7. A bookbinder’s tool for embossing bindings. Also transf. an ornament produced by this.
1811. Art Bookbinding, 40. A tool, or stamp, may be added between the bands, emblematic of the subject. Ibid. (1818), 2. Brass tools…. Ornamental stamps and volume stamps.
1875. in Knight, Dict. Mech.
8. A machine for shaping articles made of sheet-metal; a drop-hammer, stamping-machine.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 999. Every one [of the shaped vessels of plated metal] of simple form is now made in dies struck with a drop-hammer or stamp.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 263/1. It will be long before the ‘old process of casting’ is superseded by the stamp and die.
9. An iron-shod pestle of a mill for crushing ores, esp. each of the several pestles, usually five in number, forming the battery of a stamp-mill; chiefly in pl., a battery of stamps, a stamp-mill.
1674. Ray, Collect. Words, Smelting Silver, 116. The slags or cinders of the first smelting they beat small with great stamps lifted up by a wheel moved with water, and falling by their own weight.
1875. J. H. Collins, Princ. Metal Mining, 107. The ore being broken down about the size of road stone, is now in a fit state for the action of the ‘stamps.’
1901. Munsey’s Mag., XXV. 662/2. A quartz mill … with a varying number of stamps—beams of iron that are lifted and let fall in a sort of long mortar, in which are thrown the ore, water, and quicksilver.
10. A machine for pounding hides to soften them (Cf. STAMPER 3 e.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech.
11. slang. pl. (See quots.)
1567. Harman, Caveat (1869), 82. Stampes, legges.
1609. Dekker, Lanth. & Candle Lt., c iij b. He sweares To put our stamps in the Harmans.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Stamps, legs.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., Stamps, shoes.
III. The result of stamping.
12. The mark, impression or imprint made with an engraved block or die.
a. An impressed mark used to certify or give validity to a document; an official mark certifying the quality or genuineness of goods.
1542. Acts Privy Council (1837), VII. 324. A lettre was sent under the stampe to the President and Cownsell in the northe for the giving to Sir Richarde Long his oth.
1545. in Rymer Fœdera, XV. 81/2. Such Warrants as our said Counsail … shall undre our Stamp being sealed wyth our Signet, make [etc.].
1578. Extracts Rec. Convent. Burghs Scot. (1870), I. 76. Thair wechtis … to be maid of bras, and markit with the tovnis stamp.
1621. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1906), I. 263. I having first told over all the bars of lead and carefully taken the contents of each bar according to the stampe marked on them.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, I. iv. He sold goods, that were not marketable without the stamp.
1726. Act 13 Geo. I., c. 26 § 19. It shall … be lawful to … the said Trustees [for the Linen Manufacture] … from Time to Time to direct such Stamp or Stamps to be made use of, as they shall think proper.
1771. Junius Lett., xlix. (1820), 254. The King had … affixed his stamp and given it currency among his subjects.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 126. The refiner has to deliver his opinion on a large mass of silver, and to attest its quality by a stamp.
1875. Fortnum, Maiolica, i. 10. Remains of furnaces and fragments of Roman time and tiles with the stamp of Theodoric.
b. The design or combination of marks stamped by authority on a piece of metal in the process of minting or coining into money; the impressed design characteristic of a particular issue of coins of a certain value.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 211. The double ducades … are diminisshed of the goodnesse of their golde, with the stampe of youre maiestye chaunged.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 322/2. To coyne monie: to giue it the stampe. Ibid., 330/1. A crosse penie, so called of the stampe which it bare, being a crosse.
1628. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1909), III. 241. All rup[ees] of Noor Jehann Beagams stampe are called in and not to bee uttered.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., A 2. A Patron … whose Name in the Front, like a Princes stamp upon Lead, might give authority and make it currant coyne.
1665. Glanvill, Scepsis Sci., xxii. 139. The Stamp of Authority can make Leather as current as Gold.
1696. B. Kennett, Romæ Antiq. Notitia, II. V. xiii. (1717), 372. Afterwards it had on one side the Beak of a Ship, on the other a Janus, and such were the Stamps of the As.
1712. J. Morton, Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh., 500. Eight or Nine [coins] of this very Prince of different Stamps.
1871. C. Davies, Metric Syst., III. 150. The dollar, under its new stamp, has preserved its name and circulation.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 724/2. There are two distinct stages in the introduction of coining. In the first, only the quality or fineness of the metal is denoted by the stamp…. In other words, the stamp acts as a kind of hall-mark…. The second step was to certify the weight as well as the fineness of the metal.
in figurative context. 1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., IV. i. 4. Such attribution should the Dowglas haue, As not a Souldiour of this seasons stampe, Should go so generall currant through the world. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., II. iv. 46. Do coyne heauens Image In stamps that are forbid.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., III. xi. (1695), 293. For Words … being no Man’s private possession, but the common measure of Commerce and Communication, ’tis not for any one, at pleasure, to change the Stamp they are current in.
1781. Cowper, Anti-Thelyph., 156. Vice passing current by the stamp of law.
1795. Burns, For a’ that, i. The rank is but the guinea’s stamp—The man’s the gowd for a’ that.
c. gen. Applied, e.g., to a postmark.
1661. H. Bishopp, in Hendy, Hist. Postmarks (1905), Introd. 3. A stamp is invented, that is putt upon every letter showing the day of the moneth that every letter comes to the office.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xxix. My letters always came back unopened, and bearing the London stamp.
13. In various figurative applications. a. A certifying or distinguishing mark or imprint.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 366. Cym. Guiderius had Vpon his necke a Mole…. Bel. This is he, Who hath vpon him still that naturall stampe.
a. 1646. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, viii. (1652), 289. When God hath set his stamp upon any thing, wee must take heed wee presume not to set our own stamp.
1781. Cowper, Expost., 685. Blessings … giv’n Mark’d with the signature and stamp of heav’n, The word of prophesy.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, 1060. Truth its radiant stamp Has fixed … Upon her children’s brow.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol. vi. 227. Conventional custom sets its stamp upon spoken speech.
b. The imprint or sign (of what is specified).
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. ix. 39. For who shall goe about To cosen Fortune, and be honourable Without the stamp of merit.
1609. Heywood, Troia Brit., XII. I. 314. Great Hector … fals vpon the next Greeke that he finds, And prints on him the bloudy stamp of death.
a. 1684. Leighton, Comm. 1 Pet. i. 10–12 (1693), 113. It carries the lively stamp of divine Inspiration.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 153. Hope sets the stamp of vanity on all That men have deem’d substantial since the fall.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VI. lii. 271. In its leading outlines it bears the stamp of truth.
1891. F. Hall, in Nation (N. Y.), LII. 297/2. Everything that had passed before me bore, to my apprehension, the stamp of intellectual obliquity.
c. ‘Value derived from suffrage or attestation; authority, currency’ (J.).
1632. Lithgow, Trav., Ded. Your auspicuous Fauour, shall leaue a greater stampe to the Worke.
1686. V. Hopkins, trans. Ratramnus Dissert., iii. (1688), 53. Paschasius his Doctrine had not received as yet the stamp of publick Authority.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., Introd. 13. There is not one single witty Phrase,… which hath not received the Stamp and Approbation of at least one hundred Years.
1803. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), I. 19/1. The uproar even, and the confusion and the clamour of a popular election in England have their use: they give a stamp to the names, Liberty, Constitution, and People.
d. simply: Imprint, impression, mark.
a. 1652. J. Smith, Sel. Disc., IV. 69. They are apt to acquire such deep stamps of material phantasms to themselves, that they cannot imagine their own being to be any other than material and divisible.
1673. Dryden, Marr. à la Mode, IV. i. You aggravate my griefs, and print them deeper In new and heavier stamps.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, IV. viii. 2. The dead, who leave the stamp Of ever-burning thoughts on many a page. Ibid. (1822), Triumph Life, 409. The wolf … Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore.
1838. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), IV. 206. Rahel Varnhagen von Ense … did not write…. She left no stamp of herself on paper.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872), II. 29. The stamp of each new impression helps to obliterate a former one.
e. Character, kind; fashion, make; cast, type.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 9. I cannot tel how mani mo of this stamp frivolus and dogged iests.
1575. Gascoigne, Glass of Govt., Wks. 1910, II. 37. Is shee of the right stampe?
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., ¶ 13. When the aboue named Radulphus happened to be at Rome, he found all the bookes to be new (of the new stampe).
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. iii. 67. But certainly false it is what is commonly affirmed [etc.]…. Of the same stampe is that which is obtruded upon us by Authors … that an Adamant [etc.].
1666. Boyle, Orig. Formes & Qual., 44. I would be understood to mean by it [Forme], not a real Substance distinct from Matter, but onely the Matter it selfe of a Natural Body, consider’d with its peculiar manner of Existence, which … may … be call’d…, if you would have me expresse it in one word, its Stamp.
1709. Hearne, Collect., 1 Sept. (O.H.S.), II. 247. ’Tis likely he is of the true Stamp for Principles.
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., I. i. His acquaintance give him a very different character among creatures of another stamp.
1796. Burke, Lett. to Dudley North, Corr. IV. 551. He was exactly what we conceive of an English nobleman of the old stamp.
1831. D. E. Williams, Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence, II. 382. Men whose different stamps of genius and characters of intellect, were more singularly calculated to view their subjects through curious and diversified media.
1869. Lecky, Europ. Mor., I. i. 161. Men of the stamp of a Washington or a Hampden.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 322. He struck a blow which showed that a general of a new stamp had appeared upon the scene.
f. Physical or outward form, cast.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1598), 343. A yong maid, truly of the finest stamp of beautie.
1607. Shaks., Cor., I. vi. 23. Com. Whose yonder. That doe’s appeare as he were Flead? O Gods, He has the stampe of Martius.
a. 1704. T. Brown, 1st Sat. Persius, Wks. (1730), I. 53. A strange … birth: A glimpse of human stamp it has, the rest Is serpent fish and bird.
1877. Miss A. B. Edwards, Up Nile, xxi. 630. These early European settlers are seen with the Asiatic stamp of features.
14. An embossed or impressed mark placed by a government office on paper or parchment to certify that the duty chargeable in respect of what is thereon written or printed has been paid. Hence also, in recent times, an adhesive label (printed with a distinctive device) which is issued by the government for a fixed amount, and which when affixed to a document or other dutiable object serves the same purpose as an impressed stamp.
1694. Act 5 & 6 Will. & Mary, c. 21. § 5. [Stamp Act] And the said Commissioners shall … provide Six severall Markes or Stamps … for the severall and respective dutyes hereby granted with which severall Markes or Stamps all Velum Paper and Parchment upon which any of the severall and respective thinges herein before charged shall be ingrossed or written shall be stampt and impressed.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 445, ¶ 1. I am afraid that few of our weekly historians … will be able to subsist under the weight of a stamp.
1712. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 7 Aug. Have you seen the red stamp the papers are marked with? Methinks the stamping is worth a halfpenny. Ibid. (1713), Imit. Hor. Ep., I. vii. 43. Of late indeed the Paper-Stamp Did very much his Genius cramp.
1802. Med. Jrnl., VIII. 136. I question whether an apothecary, who should make up parcels of ingredients … would not render himself liable to a confiscation … for selling them without stamps.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4), II. 886. It was holden that it [sc. a marine insurance policy] might be rectified by inserting the true name, without a fresh stamp.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, ii. Twenty-one pun five, Roundhand, and nothing for the stamp! There it is, sir, re-ceipted.
1846. Daily News, 21 Jan., 4/1. The stamp on newspapers is not like the stamp on Universal Medicine-Bottles, which licenses anything, however false and monstrous.
1881. Besant & Rice, Chapl. Fleet, I. xiii. Your marriage is entered in my Register: I have the lines on a five-shilling stamp!
1911. Act 1 & 2 Geo. V., c. 55 § 7. Subject to the provisions of this [National Insurance] Act, the Insurance Commissioners may make regulations providing for … payment of contributions whether by means of adhesive or other stamps affixed to or impressed upon books or cards, or otherwise.
b. The Stamps = the Stamp Office. ? Obs.
1820. Byron, Blues, II. 59. Sir Rich. But this place —…. Lady Bluem. Excuse me—’tis one in the ‘Stamps’: He is made a collector.
1825. Hone, Every-day Bk., I. 2 January 1. A close holiday at all public offices except the Excise, Customs, and Stamps.
c. spec. = POSTAGE STAMP.
1837. R. Hill, in Life (1880), I. 271. Perhaps the difficulty [of the sender being unable to re-address the stamped cover purchased by him at the Post Office] might be obviated by using a bit of paper just large enough to bear the stamp, and covered at the back with a glutinous wash, which the bringer might … attach to the back of the letter. Ibid. (1839) (title), On the Collection of Postage by means of Stamps.
1850. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 105. I have little to tell you worth even a penny stamp.
1863. Stamp-Collector’s Mag., I. 3/1. We cannot congratulate the designer of our penny and twopenny stamps on the display of any taste.
1896. Punch, 7 March, 112/3. I have been writing letters broadcast. I prefer stamps to post-cards.
d. pl. (U.S. slang.) Money (properly, paper money).
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 296. Among the less, generally known terms [for ‘money’] are … dyestuffs, charms, and also the more modern designation of stamps.
1876. Besant & Rice, Gold. Butterfly, x. ‘But no Hand, dead or alive, shall ever get hold of my stamps.’ ‘Your stamps?’ ‘My stamps, sir; my greenbacks, my dollars.’
1885. R. L. & F. Stevenson, Dynamiter, 195. I have neglected to supply myself with funds;… and without what is coarsely if vigorously called stamps,… it is impossible for me to pass the ocean.
† 15. Something marked with a device; a coin, medal. Obs.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. iv. 16. I found thee of more valew Then stampes in Gold, or summes in sealed bagges. Ibid. (1605), Macb., IV. iii. 153. People … The meere dispaire of Surgery, he cures, Hanging a golden stampe about their neckes.
1608–9. Middleton, Widow, II. i. I will consume my self to the last stamp, Before thou gett’st me.
fig. 1588. Shaks., Tit. A., IV. ii. 69. Here is the babe as loathsome as a toad,… The Empresse sends it thee, thy stampe, thy seale. Ibid. (1594), Rich. III., I. iii. 256. Queene Mother. Peace Master Marquesse, you are malapert, Your fire-new stampe of Honor is scarce currant.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Ch. Porch, lxiv. Man is Gods image; but a poore man is Christs stamp to boot; both images regard.
† 16. A picture produced by printing from an engraved plate, an engraving, print. In stamp: by means of engraving. [After It. stampa, F. estampe.] Obs.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage, V. ii. (1614), 463. He that will not onely reade, but in manner see,… may resort to Theodoricke and Israel de Bry, who haue in liuely stampes expressed these Nauigations.
1662. Evelyn, Sculptura, I. i. 9. The French call it [Etching] in particular Taille douce.… The Italians Intaglia, or stamp, without Adjunct. Ibid., I. iv. 47. Ugo de Carpi did things in stamp, which appear’d as tender as any Drawings.
1705. Addison, Italy, 88. When I was at Venice they were putting out very curious Stamps of the several Edifices that are most famous for their Beauty.
1720. Prior, in Swift’s Lett. (1766), II. 11. Richardson … has made an excellent picture of me; from whence lord Harley (whose it is) has a stamp taken by Vertue.
1756. Nugent, Gr. Tour, Italy, III. 26. At Rome, all sorts of fine stamps or prints, as of antiques, palaces … plans of towns, &c.
1780. J. Adams, in Fam. Lett. (1876), 380. It is a description and a copper-plate of all the engravings upon precious stones…. The stamps are extremely beautiful, and are representations of the gods and heroes of antiquity.
17. Mining. (See quots.)
1851. Greenwell, Coal-Trade Terms, Northumb. & Durh., 50. Stamp, a hole made with a pick in the coal, in which to place a wedge.
1860. Eng. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 80 (S. Staffordsh. Terms), Stamp, a mark cut in the roof or sides of the mine, as a point of reference, to show the amount of work done.
18. Metallurgy. (See quots.)
1880. Encycl. Brit., XIII. 319. (Iron) The first rough forged slabs are cut into pieces termed ‘stamps,’ which are then reheated.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Stamps, S. Wales. The pieces into which the rough bars shingled from the finery ball are broken, to be piled for subsequent rolling into sheet-iron.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
19. Obvious combinations, as stamp-mark, -seal; objective, as stamp-maker; stamp-selling adj.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Stamp-maker, a die-sinker; a manufacturer of adhesive receipt or postage stamps.
1813. Shelley, Q. Mab, IV. 230. Red glows the tyrants *stamp-mark on its bloom. Ibid., V. 188. A public mart Of undisguising selfishness, that sets On each its price, the stamp-mark of her reign.
1758. J. Blake, Plan. regul. Marine Syst., 3. Let her be provided with a screw *stamp-seal, having a device thereon.
1908. Daily Chron., 18 April, 4/6. An automatic *stamp-selling machine.
20. Special comb.: Stamp Act, each of the various Acts of Parliament for regulating the stamp duties; esp. that of 1765 (5 Geo. III., c. 12) for levying stamp duties in the American colonies; also, that of 1712 (10 Anne, c. 19, § 101) imposing a stamp duty on newspapers; stamp-album, a book for the orderly arrangement and preservation of a collection of postage stamps; stamp-battery, a series of stamps in a stamp-mill; stamp-bed, the bed or bottom of a stamping machine upon which the lower die is placed; Stamp-Bill, a bill for imposing or regulating stamp duties; stamp book = stamp-album; stamp-box (a) a receptacle for unused postage stamps; (b) the box in which the ore is pounded in a stamp-mill; stamp-collecting (a) sb. = PHILATELY; (b) adj., that practises philately; stamp-collector, (a) a collector or receiver of stamp duties; (b) a PHILATELIST; stamp copper, copper ore that is to be or has been crushed by stamping (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); stamp-cutter (see quot.); stamp-dealer, a dealer in postage stamps for collectors; stamp-distributor, an official who issues or sells government stamps; hence stamp distributorship; stamp duty, any of the duties collected by means of stamps impressed on or affixed to the articles taxed; stamp gold, gold ore for stamping; stamp-hammer, the hammer of a stamping machine; stamp-head (a) the head of a pestle of a stamp-mill; (b) the head of a cask upon which the brands are made (Funk’s Stand. Dict.); † stamp-house, a house containing machinery for crushing ore; stamp-machine Paper-manuf., a machine for pulping rags (Cent. Dict., 1891); † stamp-man = stamp-collector (a); stamps-man, one who helps to work an ore-crushing stamp-mill; stamp-master, (a) an official appointed by the Trustees for the linen manufacture in Ireland (see quot. 1726); (b) an official appointed to administer the Stamp Act; stamp-mill (a) the apparatus used to crush ores by means of a pestle or series of pestles operated by machinery, also attrib.; (b) an oil-crushing mill of similar construction; stamp note, a permit from a Custom House official granting permission for the loading of goods on board ship; stamp office, an office where government stamps are issued and where stamp duties are received; stamp officer, one appointed to administer the Stamp Act; stamp paper (a) paper having the government revenue stamp impressed on or affixed to it; (b) the marginal paper of a sheet of postage stamps (often used as sticking plaster, etc.); stamp-press (see quot.); stamp rock, ore suitable for treatment by stamping; stamp-stem, the stem of the pestle of a stamp-mill; stamp-tax, a tax imposed by a stamp act; stamp-work (see quot.).
1765. J. Adams, Diary, 18 Dec., Wks. 1850, II. 154. That enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for beating down all the rights and liberties of America, I mean the *Stamp Act.
1793. Blackstone’s Comm. (ed. 12), I. 324, note. If each stamp-act declared the whole amount of the stamp at the time, it would prevent much confusion.
1862. All Year Round, July, 447/1. My *stamp album is worth twenty pounds.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stamp-battery.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 451. The … advantage in substituting a systematic crushing by steel rolls for stamp-batteries.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 263/1. This block the stamper lays on the *stamp-bed, immediately under the descending hammer.
1765. J. Ingersoll, Lett. Stamp-Act (1766), 11. The *Stamp-Bill that has been preparing to lay before Parliament for taxing America.
1862. F. Booty, Stamp Coll. Guide, Introd. The *stamp book has also its utilitarian side.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 5825, Match-box, *stamp-box, and paper-knife, all en suite.
1872. W. W. Smyth, Mining Statistics, 65. The amalgam obtained inside and outside the stamp boxes.
1862. F. Booty, Stamp Coll. Guide, Introd. It is curious to see how much public opinion has been modified lately, upon the subject of *stamp collecting.
1867. Philatelist, I. 1/2. Not only in England, but in other *stamp-collecting countries.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4673/3. All such Indentures … to be sent … either to the head Stamp-Office, or to some of the *Stamp Collectors.
1863. (title) The Stamp-Collector’s Magazine.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Stamp-cutter, an engraver of dies on wood, stone, or metal.
1863. Stamp-Collector’s Mag., I. 39/2. The *stamp dealers of Paris.
1765. Universal Mag., XXXVII. Suppl. 377/1. The *stamp distributor, or informer, may unrighteously get, from his Majesty’s good American subjects, more than his Majesty, upon a balance, may get by the stamps.
1904. Spencer, Autobiog., II. 39. Of all posts likely to answer my purpose, that of stamp-distributor was the most promising. Ibid. The *stamp-distributorship for Derby fell vacant, and I made an effort to obtain it.
1704. Evelyn, Diary, 16 Jan. The Lord Treasurer gave my grandson the office of Treasurer of the *Stamp duties.
1765. J. Ingersoll, Lett. Stamp-Act (1766), 28. ’Tis said that it is intended to give the Business of collecting and paying the Stamp-Duty, to Americans.
1894. Act 57–8 Vict., c. 30 § 6(1). Estate duty shall be a stamp duty collected and recovered as hereinafter mentioned.
1911. Encycl. Brit., XXV. 771/2. The death duties, the corporation duty, the duties on patent medicines and playing cards, and postage duties, are also technically ‘stamp duties’; but in ordinary use the expression is limited to those imposed on the various classes of legal instruments, such as conveyances, leases,… &c., on bills of exchange,… bills of lading, and a few other documents.
1877. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 293. The Quartz Hill mines have furnished during the year about one-third of the *stamp-gold product of the county.
1837. Hebert, Engin. & Mech. Encycl., II. 190. By means of a blow from the *stamp hammer, the two needles between the dies are exactly impressed on both sides with the grooves.
1758. Borlase, Nat. Hist. Cornw., 178. They [the lifters] are armed at the bottom with large masses of iron … called *Stamp-heads.
1890. Goldf. Victoria, 15. A battery of 26 stampheads.
1684. Phil. Trans., XVII. 745. Several persons were employed to bring the Refuse [copper ore] to the *Stamp-house, where it was stamped.
1765. Universal Mag., XXXVII. 217/1. The *Stampman for that colony had appointed his Deputies.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., III. xx. 532. In Boston, the people dealt first with Andrew Oliver, who had received his commission as stamp-man.
1891. J. H. Pearce, Esther Pentreath, I. i. The news of the accident spread like wildfire among … the *stamps’-men and spallers.
1712. in D. D. Black, Hist. Brechin (1839), 125. [They were appointed by the council] to be *stamp-masters of this burgh for stamping all linen cloth.
1726. Act 13 Geo. I., c. 26 § 20. All Dealers in Linen Cloth, before … they shall sell … any Linen Cloth … shall carry the same … to the Place where such Lapper or Stamp-master … shall reside, there to be inspected, marked, lapped up and stamped by him.
1749. Phil. Trans., XLVI. 226. After this Preparation it is brought to the *Stamp-mills.
1874. Raymond, 6th Rep. Mines, 292. The stamp-mill ore is passed through the mill belonging to the mine.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Stamp-note.
1710. Lond. Gaz., No. 4673/3. All such Indentures … to be sent … to the head *Stamp-Office.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 555, ¶ 5. The tax on each half-sheet has brought into the stamp-office one week with another above 20 l.
1765. Universal Mag., Oct., 218/2. His son, then in London, was appointed a *Stamp Officer for the said province. Ibid. (1765), XXXVII. Suppl. 378/2. A design … to promote the taking of the *stamp-papers.
1814. Scott, Wav., lxxi. It certainly related to stamp-paper and parchment.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 61. Get some gummed stamp paper, and punch through six or eight thicknesses at a time.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Stamp-press, one for attaching stamps to letters, envelopes, or other articles.
1872. Raymond, Statist. Mines & Mining, 314. The *stamp-rock, it is said, yields about one ounce of retorted amalgam per ton.
1882. Rep. Precious Metals U.S., 572. There is a momentum given to the stamp, *stamp-stem, and piston.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 160. We rose up as one man, against a paltry *stamp-tax.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Stamp-work, Lake Superior. Rock containing disseminated native copper.
