Express (Hastings' Dictionary)

Only He 1* 'the express im,age of his person ' (xapa/cr^p, RV ' the very image,' llVm ' the impress') ; and Wis 14" ' they . . made an express image of a king ' {i^ipavTj tUbva, RV ' a visible image '). On x<»pa»oT)p see Westcott, in loc. The tr. of RV is after Tind. ; the Geneva (' ingraved forme') tries to bring out the sense of the Gr. word, which is properly what stands engraven on any object, as a seal (Davidson), and this is the meaning of AV ' express image ' ; cf. Shaks. Hamlet, u. ii.

299, 'What a piece of work is a man ! in form and moving, how express and admirable,' which Aldis Wright explains thus : ' Exact, fitted to its purpose, as the seal fits the stamp.' Exprimere (ptcp. expressus) has the mean- ing among others of ' copy,' ' pourtray,' and from this the Eng. word was used before 1611 in the sense of ' exactly pourtrayed.' Thus Sir T. More, (\5\Z) Rich. III. 'This is ye fathers own figure . . ye playne expresse lykenes of ye noble Duke.' J. Hastings.