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Webster 1913 Edition


Impinge

Im-pinge′

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Impinged
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Impinging
.]
[L.
impingere
; pref.
im-
in +
pangere
to fix, strike; prob. akin to
pacisci
to agree, contract. See
Pact
, and cf.
Impact
.]
To fall or dash against; to touch upon; to strike; to hit; to clash with; – with on or upon.
The cause of reflection is not the
impinging
of light on the solid or impervious parts of bodies.
Sir I. Newton.
But, in the present order of things, not to be employed without
impinging
on God’s justice.
Bp. Warburton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Impinge

IMPINGE

,
Verb.
I.
impinj'. [L. impingo; in and pango, to strike. See Pack.] To fall against; to strike; to dash against; to clash upon.
The cause of reflection is not the impinging of light on the solid or impervious parts of bodies.

Definition 2024


impinge

impinge

See also: împinge

English

Verb

impinge (third-person singular simple present impinges, present participle impinging, simple past and past participle impinged)

  1. (transitive, now rare) To make a physical impact (on); to collide, to crash (upon).
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, vol.1, New York Review Books, 2001, p.287:
      The ordinary rocks upon which such men do impinge and precipitate themselves, are cards, dice, hawks, and hounds […].
  2. (intransitive, figuratively) To interfere with; to encroach (on, upon).
    • 2006 Summer, Keith R. Fisher, “Toward a Basal Tenth Amendment: A Riposte to National Bank Preemption of State Consumer Protection Laws”, in Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, volume 29, page 981-1034:
      It is astonishing that the meaning of a single declarative sentence enshrined in the Bill of Rights has evaded judicial construction establishing, at a minimum, some bedrock level of state sovereignty upon which the federal government can not impinge.
  3. (intransitive) To have an effect upon; to limit.
    • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
      “I have tried, as I hinted, to enlist the co-operation of other capitalists, but experience has taught me that any appeal is futile that does not impinge directly upon cupidity. 

Usage notes

  • The transitive use is less common, not included in many small dictionaries, and not favored by Garner's Modern American Usage (2009).

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Italian

Verb

impinge

  1. third-person singular present indicative of impingere

Anagrams


Latin

Verb

impinge

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of impingō