stamp [ME] Although the verb to stamp is not recorded in Old English, it is probable that it existed in the language and that it is just chance that it has not survived, as it is from a common Germanic root. It is found about 1200 in the sense to pound, and to stamp your foot by 1340; the sense to strike an impression on something is Late Middle English, as is the instrument for making such an impression. Such tools were being used to date-stamp incoming letters by the mid 17th century, and by the end of that century we find government documents being certified by stamps. From these evolved the postage stamp, the modern form of which was thought up by Rowland Hill in 1837.