Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Imposition

Im′po·si′tion, n. [F., fr. L. impositio the application of a name to a thing. See Impone.] 1. The act of imposing, laying on, affixing, enjoining, inflicting, obtruding, and the like. "From imposition of strict laws." Milton.

Made more solemn by the imposition of hands. Hammond.

2. That which is imposed, levied, or enjoined; charge; burden; injunction; tax.

3. (Eng. Univ.) An extra exercise enjoined on students as a punishment. T. Warton.

4. An excessive, arbitrary, or unlawful exaction; hence, a trick or deception put on laid on others; cheating; fraud; delusion; imposture.

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition. Shak.

5. (Eccl.) The act of laying on the hands as a religious ceremoy, in ordination, confirmation, etc.

6. (Print.) The act or process of imosing pages or columns of type. See Impose, v. t., 4.

Syn. — Deceit; fraud; imposture. See Deception.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.