Definition of "impressment" [im•press•ment]

• The act or policy of seizing people or property for public service or use. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In this power of impressment is a good part of a ruler's greatness."
• "Thus recalling the impressment of American citizens by the British prior to the war of 1812."
• "British custom of procuring sailors for the king's ships by a system of kidnapping, commonly known as impressment, was the cause of the outbreak."