Imprest
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 An advance of funds, especially to a government service or employee.
"Calling on Lacon at the Cabinet Office to deliver the Circus's monthly imprest account for his inspection, he had been astonished to see Sam emerging from his private office, joking easily with Lacon and Saul Enderby of the Foreign Office."
- 1 simple past and past participle of impress form-of, obsolete, participle, past
- 2 To advance funds on loan.
"February 23 1780, Edmund Burke, Establism Bill it shall not be lawful to imprest or issue to the paymaster general of his majesty's land forces"
Example
More examples"Calling on Lacon at the Cabinet Office to deliver the Circus's monthly imprest account for his inspection, he had been astonished to see Sam emerging from his private office, joking easily with Lacon and Saul Enderby of the Foreign Office."
Etymology
Prefix form of prest, perhaps after Italian imprestare, or perhaps from a misunderstanding of the phrase in prest.
More for "imprest"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.