Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Impact in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels impact as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Impact

[L. impactus, p. p. of impingere to push, strike against. See Impinge.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordimpact
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[L. impactus, p. p. of impingere to push, strike against. See Impinge.]
Selected historical definitionTo drive close; to press firmly together: to wedge into a place.
Signed record IDwebster1913-impact-verb-6fb9a2b190ba
Source locatorCIDE.I, paragraph 1401; Gutenberg eBook 664
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 664Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "impact" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[L. impactus, p. p. of impingere to push, strike against. See Impinge.]" The selected historical definition says: "To drive close; to press firmly together: to wedge into a place."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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