fingerprint
/ˈfɪŋɡəprɪnt
/noun
1An impression or mark made on a surface by a person’s fingertip, able to be used for identifying individuals from the unique pattern of whorls and lines on the fingertips.Imperfections such as marks, lines and fingerprints only enhance the personality of these photos....
- To open the safe, a ‘learned’ finger is placed on the sensor, which then compares the fingerprint's unique pattern to those stored in its memory bank.
- A machine scans the index finger, matching the customer's unique fingerprint with the individual's account.
1.1A distinctive identifying characteristic: the faint chemical fingerprint of plastic explosives...
- The magnet ‘maps’ molecules to identify their distinct fingerprints.
- Using this technique, absorption spectra that are a characteristic fingerprint of the sample analyzed are routinely obtained with minimum or no sample preparation.
- As such, they serve as distinctive fingerprints, suitable for differentiating among individual walnut trees within the same species.
verb [with object]
Record the fingerprints of: I was booked, fingerprinted, and locked up for the night...
- Police then dragged him back onto his feet and took him to the justice center to be fingerprinted and booked.
- He took a further step in 1929 and began fingerprinting all civil servants.
- ‘No, I've never been fingerprinted,’ I assured him, as he pulled out what appeared to be an ink pad and blotter.