imprint on (someone or something)
1. Of a newborn animal, to form an early social bond with some person or other animal and recognize them as its parent as a result. The duckling imprinted on the girl who had hatched it in the incubator. Wow, that kitten always hisses at me, yet she seems to love you. I wonder if she's imprinted on you. That gosling seems to have imprinted on its caretaker at the rehabilitation center.
2. To impart a very strong or vivid impression in one's mind. In this usage, a noun or pronoun can be used between "imprint" and "on." The speaker imprinted a great sense of hope and vigor on the audience. The memory of that fateful meeting is forever imprinted on me. Unfortunately, the image of Grandpa in his boxers seems to be imprinted on my mind now. Gross.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
imprint something on(to) something
1. to print something onto something. We imprinted your name onto your stationery and your business cards. Please imprint my initials on this label.
2. and imprint something into something to record something firmly in the memory of someone. The severe accident imprinted a sense of fear onto Lucy's mind. Imprint the numbers into your brain and never forget them!
3. and imprint something into something to make a permanent record of something in an animal's brain. (As with newly hatched fowl, which imprint the image of the first moving creature they see into their brains.) The sight of its mother imprinted itself on the little gosling's brain. Nature imprints this information into the bird's memory.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.