"Put Your Stamp on It" Idiom Meaning, Origin & History | Superduper English Idioms
Channel: Superduper English Idioms
Date: 2021-03-31

0:00 - How to Say, “Put your stamp on it.”
0:22 - Examples of “Put your stamp on it.”
1:07 - Meaning of “Put your stamp on it.”
1:25 - Origin of “Put your stamp on it.”
3:02 - More Examples of “Put your stamp on it.”
3:53 - Conclusion

“Put your stamp on it.”

When someone says that you’ve “put your stamp on it,” it means that you’ve added your own special touch, influenced how it turned out, infused it with your style, made it your own.

“This cake is delicious, but has a very unique taste! It’s clear that you put your stamp on it,” your cousin might be praising your baking.

Maybe you’re attending an art theory lecture, “Many people create beautiful pieces of art, but a true artist puts their stamp on the things they create.”

“Put your stamp on it! Make it yours by adding in a few notes of your own,” your music teacher might be telling you.

As you can see, when you “put your stamp on it”, you’re making something your own creation, personalizing it, putting your own touch on it, making it unique.

The origin of the idiom is murky, but “put your stamp on it”, appears as early as 1693 in John Dryden’s “The Satires of Junius Decimus Juvenalis”, where he dedicates the work to Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset.

In the dedication, he says many great things about the 6th Earl of Dorset, including praising Charles’ writing prowess and how he makes his writing great by “putting his stamp on it”.

The ease with which Dryden uses the idiom in the dedication of his book indicates that it was probably already a well-known and oft-used idiom at the time of publishing in 1693.

When learning something new, copying what someone else has done is a very good way to practice, gain experience and build confidence…

… which eventually leads to your own expertise and mastery. Then, you can “put your stamp on it” and make your skills or creations unique.

“What I love most about this restaurant is that the chef has really put her stamp on the food,” a “food influencer” might be sharing on her channel.

You might be visiting a friend’s house a month after they moved in, “Wow, you already put your stamp on your new house! I love how you decorated it.”

“This version of ‘Swan Lake’ definitely has the director’s stamp on it,” a theatre reviewer might write in a newspaper review.

So, the next time you notice that someone has made it their own, added their own unique touch, made it special, just tell them they’ve “put their stamp on it”.

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