Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That which is imposed or levied; a tax, tribute, or duty; particularly, a duty or tax laid by government on goods imported; a customs-duty.
  • noun In architecture, the point where an arch rests on a wall or column; also, the condition of such resting or meeting.
  • noun In sporting slang, a weight placed upon a horse in a handicap race.

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

  • noun That which is imposed or levied; a tax, tribute, or duty; especially, a duty or tax laid by goverment on goods imported into a country.
  • noun (Arch.) The top member of a pillar, pier, wall, etc., upon which the weight of an arch rests.

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

  • noun A tax, tariff or duty that is imposed, especially on merchandise.
  • noun The top member of a pillar, pier, wall, etc., upon which the weight of an arch rests.
  • noun horse racing, slang The weight that must be carried by a horse in a race, the handicap.
  • noun The top part of a column or pillar that supports an arch.

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

  • noun the lowest stone in an arch -- from which it springs
  • noun money collected under a tariff

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French impost, from Latin impositus, past participle of impōnere ("to impose").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Italian imposta, from Latin imposta

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Then as now, all racehorses were assigned a weight, called an impost, to carry in each race. The impost consisted of the jockey, his roughly four and a half pounds of saddle, boots, pants, and silks, and, if necessary, lead pads inserted into the saddle."

    —Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend (New York: Ballantine Books, 2001), 65

    October 20, 2008

  • To Ernest it seems not a bribe

    To pay as the locals imbibe.

    A few drinks at most

    Is a modest impost

    To loosen the tongues of the tribe.

    Find out more about Ernest Bafflewit

    May 2, 2015