1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Imposition

IMPOSITION (from Lat. imponere, to place or lay upon), in ecclesiastical usage, the “laying on” of hands by a bishop at the services of confirmation and ordination as a sign that some special spiritual gift is conferred, or that the recipient is set apart for some special service or work. The word is also used of the levying of a burdensome or unfair tax or duty, and of a penalty, and hence is applied to a punishment task given to a schoolboy. From “impose” in the sense of “to pass off” on some one, imposition means also a trick or deception. In the printing trade the term is used of the arrangement of pages of type in the “forme,” being one of the stages between composing and printing.

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