imposition

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English imposicioun,^[2][3] borrowed from Latin impositiō (“a laying on”),^[4][5][6] or partly borrowed from Old French imposicion (“tax, duty”),^[4][7][8] a noun of action from impōnō (“to place upon”),^[4][7][5] formed from in- (“on, into”) and pōnō (“to put, place”).^[7][9][3] The Old French word is recorded from 1317 in Godefroy,^[4] and the Anglo-Norman one from 1313–14, already of laying on and of a tax.^[8] Klein notes that the Latin noun also meant the application of a name to a thing.^[6] Merriam-Webster derives the English word from both Middle French and Late Latin.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The levying of a tax, taxation: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius.^[4][2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, in the sense "a tax, duty, tribute".^[7] The OED notes that it was first used only in special senses: the laying on of hands, the giving of a name, and a tax or charge.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word was chiefly a tax or tribute and its levying,^[2][7] and the Wycliffite Bible (1382) used it for the laying on of hands, after the Vulgate's impositio in Acts 8:18.^[4] From the 1430s, in Lydgate, it also meant the giving of a name.^[4] The general sense of putting or laying something on is recorded only from 1598.^[4][7] In the 1590s it came to mean the imposing of a burden, duty or task.^[4] From 1600, in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, it also meant a command laid on someone, and Shakespeare used it for an accusation as well.^[4][11] From 1632 it meant a deception or imposture,^[4][11] and Etymonline dates the sense of imposing on someone to the 1630s.^[7] At school and college an imposition was a task set as a punishment, from 1746, colloquially shortened to impo or impot.^[4][11] In printing it has meant the arrangement of pages in the forme since 1824.^[4] Johnson (1755) began with the act of laying anything on another, as in the imposition of hands.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – the levying of a tax, in Chaucer (obsolete by 1628).^[4][2]
• 1382 – the laying on of hands, in the Wycliffite Bible.^[4]
• 1430s – the giving or ascribing of a name, in Lydgate.^[4]
• c. 1460 – a tax or duty, in Fortescue.^[4]
• 1593 – the imposing of a burden, duty or task.^[4]
• 1598 – the putting or laying of something on something else.^[4][7]
• 1600 – a command laid on someone, in Shakespeare (obsolete by 1664).^[4]
• 1632 – a deception, an imposture.^[4]
• 1746 – a task set as a punishment at school.^[4]
• 1824 – in printing, the arrangement of pages in the forme.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of imposing something such as a tax, rule or penalty: the imposition of a curfew.^[13][10][4]
2. Something imposed, especially an unfair or inconvenient burden or demand: I hope it's not too much of an imposition to ask for a lift.^[13][11]
3. A tax or duty; an impost.^[4][10]
4. The laying on of hands in a religious ceremony.^[10][4][11]
5. (printing) The arrangement of pages so that they appear in the right order when printed and folded.^[13][4][11]
6. (British) A task set at school as a punishment.^[13][4][11]
7. A deception; an imposture.^[4][11]
8. (obsolete) An accusation or imputation.^[4][11]

Word family

• nonimposition
• reimposition

Related words

• impose
• impost
• imposture
• impostor
• position
• compose
• deposit
• posit

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins