Im*port" (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Imported; p. pr. & vb. n. Importing.] [L. importare to bring in, to occasion, to cause; pref. im- in + portare to bear. Sense 3 comes through F. importer, from the Latin. See Port demeanor.] 1. To bring in from abroad; to introduce from without; especially, to bring (wares or merchandise) into a place or country from a foreign country, in the transactions of commerce; -- opposed to export. We import teas from China, coffee from Brasil, etc.
2. To carry or include, as meaning or intention; to imply; to signify.
Every petition . . . doth . . . always import a multitude of speakers together.
Hooker.
3. To be of importance or consequence to; to have a bearing on; to concern.
I have a motion much imports your good.
Shak.
If I endure it, what imports it you?
Dryden.
Syn. -- To denote; mean; sighify; imply; indicate; betoken; interest; concern.
© Webster 1913.
Im*port", v. i. To signify; to purport; to be of moment. "For that . . . importeth to the work."
Bacon.
© Webster 1913.
Im"port (?), n. 1. Merchandise imported, or brought into a country from without its boundaries; -- generally in the plural, opposed to exports.
I take the imports from, and not the exports to, these conquests, as the measure of these advantages which we derived from them.
Burke.
2. That which a word, phrase, or document contains as its signification or intention or interpretation of a word, action, event, and the like.
3. Importance; weight; consequence.
Most serious design, and the great import.
Shak.
© Webster 1913. | 
