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Glite Dictionary
✅ To approve quickly ✅ Automatic approval 🖋️ A marking tool
rubber stamp

rubber stamp

1 3.5
A hand tool with a rubber surface that makes a mark when pressed on an ink pad
  • noun
  • /ˈrʌbər stæmp/
translation icon : sello de goma
  • She used a rubber stamp to imprint her signature on the documents.
  • rubber stamp in ink
  • a big rubber stamp

And I found it one day in a draw, the old photographs hidden away, and my eyes still grow damp to remember His Majesty sign with his own rubber stamp.

Examples

  • Then she took a rubber stamp from a desk drawer, stamped the certificate, and signed it.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • A big rubber stamp slams down: "REJECTED" in red ink.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • We had red rubber stamps for the charts of patients who had signed such orders in the hospital where I worked.

    Blog text (29)

  • A big rubber stamp slams down: "REJECTED."

    Fiction book (1994)

  • A big rubber stamp slams down and lifts away to reveal the word "APPROVED" in red ink.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • I am determined to make cards for my friends and family this year, although the process will be simplified by the help of a pretty, seasonal rubber stamp that I picked up a few weeks ago at the Granville Island post office.

    Blog text (16)

  • The artist created a unique design by using a rubber stamp on the fabric.

  • To quickly label her files, she decided to buy a rubber stamp with her name on it.

Synonyms

stamp
vsrubber stamp
36 1.5

A tool that makes a mark or design by pressing into a surface

is narrower, meaning a rubber-made tool used by hand to imprint designs
handstamp
vsrubber stamp
1 4.1

A small tool you press by hand to make a mark or design

refers specifically to a rubber-made tool used by hand for imprinting

How Detailed

engraving
25 4.1
woodblock
1 4.0
linocut
1 8.8
rubber stamp
1 3.5

Surface Forms

rubber stamp singular
rubber stamps plural

Morphology

rubber + stamp

The literal image of a rubber stamp (a rubber tool used to mark or authorize documents) maps clearly onto the idea of 'giving approval', so the verb sense 'to approve automatically' is a predictable metaphorical extension of the constituents. However, the pragmatic nuance of unthinking or formal approval (i.e., approving without proper consideration) is a figurative shift that a B1 learner may not fully infer without prior exposure.

Etymology

Rubber stamp is a small tool with a rubber design on a stamp that you press into ink and then onto paper to leave a mark.