Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mark left on a surface by a person's fingertip.
  • noun An inked impression made of a person's fingertip and used for identification.
  • noun A distinctive or identifying mark or characteristic.
  • noun A DNA fingerprint.
  • noun A chemical fingerprint.
  • transitive verb To take the fingerprints of.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An impression made, as with ink or some other pigment, with the tip of a finger, so that its markings are recorded.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb to take an impression of the fingerprints of (a person).
  • noun an impression of the pattern of ridges on the skin of the last joint of a person's finger, left on a surface after a person has touched the surface.
  • noun a fingerprint{1} made intentionally in ink on a paper form for the purpose of identification of the individual.
  • noun any distinctive pattern of characteristics or properties of an object which can serve to identify that object.
  • noun a smudge made by a (dirty) finger.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The unique natural pattern of ridges on the tips of the fingers.
  • noun The patterns left on surfaces where uncovered fingertips have touched.
  • noun computing Unique identification for public key in asymmetric cryptosystem.
  • verb transitive To take somebody's fingerprints.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a generic term for any identifying characteristic
  • verb take an impression of a person's fingerprints
  • noun a smudge made by a (dirty) finger
  • noun a print made by an impression of the ridges in the skin of a finger; often used for biometric identification in criminal investigations

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From finger + print.

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Examples

  • PAT D'AMURO, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: Well, at this point, they're looking to try to find what we call a fingerprint as to who could have constructed this device, taking a look at what type of material was used.

    CNN Transcript Jul 21, 2005 2005

  • I think what we have to wait and look for is what we call a fingerprint on the type of device that was used.

    CNN Transcript Jul 21, 2005 2005

  • So in the case of the telco example: they look at every single customer uniquely, and look at what they call a fingerprint-and then look at every single fingerprint on the network, and there are billions of these fingerprints, and do that all in real time-while it's happening.

    InformationWeek - All Stories And Blogs 2010

  • Santer et al. (2001) confirmed that the wrong fingerprint is observed compared with that expected from CO2 forcing on the atmosphere.

    About: Blinded by Science 2010

  • The artist's fingerprints, letter-pressed onto the pages of a book, create progressively complex patterns and sequences, transporting the fingerprint from the world of forensics and law into the freeing world of art and imagination.

    Boing Boing 2009

  • Matsumoto successfully lifted a latent fingerprint from a glass and with it fooled 80 percent of the fingerprint scanners he tested.

    007's gadgets no longer just fiction ewillett 2008

  • Check that link for details - and a MythBusters episode where they make a gelatin fingerprint and go around foiling locks with it.

    Bad Science: Biometric security is weak. rhythmaning 2007

  • Bruce is missing a key point in fingerprint reader security: yes, one can steal your fingerprint, but the question is which one of the 10 fingers you are using?

    - Boing Boing 2006

  • Saying that you only store the mathematical representations of a fingerprint is like saying that you only store the mathematical representations of a JPEG, not the actual paint, canvas and frame that it depicts.

    - Boing Boing 2006

  • Saying that you only store the mathematical representations of a fingerprint is like saying that you only store the mathematical representations of a JPEG, not the actual paint, canvas and frame that it depicts.

    Big Brother Alive and Well at Walt Disney World | Impact Lab 2006

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