Stamp, n. 1. The act of stamping, as with the foot.
2. The which stamps; any instrument for making impressions on other bodies, as a die.
'T is gold so pure
It can not bear the stamp without alloy. Dryden.
3. The mark made by stamping; a mark imprinted; an impression.
That sacred name gives ornament and grace,
And, like his stamp, makes basest metals pass. Dryden.
4. @That which is marked; a thing stamped.
@Hanging a golden stamp about their necks. Shak.
5. [F. estampe, of @German origin. See Stamp, v. t.] A picture cut in wood or metal, or made by impression; a cut; a plate.
At Venice they put out very curious stamps of the several edifices which are most famous for their beauty and magnificence. Addison.
6. An offic@ial mark set upon things chargeable with a duty or tax to government, as evidence that the duty or tax is paid; as, the stamp on a bill of exchange.
7. Hence, a stamped or printed device, issued by the government at a fixed price, and required by law to be affixed to, or stamped on, certain papers, as evidence that the government dues are paid; as, a postage stamp; a receipt stamp, etc.
8. An instrument for cutting out, or shaping, materials, as paper, leather, etc., by a downward pressure.
9. A character or reputation, good or bad, fixed on anything as if by an imprinted mark; current value; authority; as, these persons have the stamp of dishonesty; the Scriptures bear the stamp of a divine origin.
Of the same stamp is that which is obtruded on us, that an adamant suspends the attraction of the loadstone. Sir T. Browne.
10. Make; cast; form; character; as, a man of the same stamp, or of a different stamp.
A soldier of this season's stamp. Shak.
11. A kind of heavy hammer, or pestle, raised by water or steam power, for beating ores to powder; anything like a pestle, used for pounding or b@eating.
12. A half-penny. @Beau. & Fl.
13. pl. Money, esp. paper money.
Stamp act, an act of the British Parliament imposing a duty on all paper, vellum, and parchment used in the American colonies, and declaring all writings on unstamped materials to be null an@d void. — Stamp collector, an officer who receives or collects stamp duties; one who collects postage or other stamps. — Stamp duty, a duty, or tax, imposed on paper and parchment used for certain writings, as deeds, conveyances, etc., the evidence of the payment of the duty or tax being a stamp. — Stamp hammer, a hammer, worked by power, which rises and falls vertically, like a stamp in a stamp mill. — Stamp head, a heavy mass of metal, forming the head or lower end of a bar, which is lifted and let fall, in a stamp mill. — Stamp mill(Mining), a mill in which ore is crushed with stamps; also, a machine for stamping ore. — Stamp note, a stamped certificate from a customhouse officer, which allows goods to be received by the captain of a ship as freight. — Stamp office, an office for the issue of stamps and the reception of stamp duties.