Your choice was right!
Definition:
b) to officially approve
German translation:
rubber-stamp = etwas durchwinken, ohne vorherige Prüfung genehmigen
rubber stamp = der Stempel
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GOOGLE INDEX
rubber-stamp: approximately 2,500,000 Google hits
Sample text:
Venezuela Assembly RUBBER-STAMPS Socialist Changes
(headline from BusinessWeek magazine)
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Areva's board meets on Tuesday to RUBBER-STAMP the sale of the nuclear group's transmission and distribution business…
(Financial Times)
Did you know?
rubber-stamp
verb phrase (fig.)
- approve automatically without proper consideration
(Oxford Compact English Dictionary)
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To rubber-stamp something is a usually negative way of describing a situation in which approval is given to something with little or no thought. It stems from the use of rubber stamps on government and business documents to show that a plan or decision has been approved.
Most people are familiar with the image of the bureaucrat sitting behind a desk, spending eight hours a day rubber-stamping one piece of paper after another.
The following story provides a new twist to this stereotype.
A young woman, two months pregnant, went to see her doctor with her husband. He was in a hurry to leave on an emergency call, so he asked her to quickly bare her stomach. He reached into his desk and took out a rubber stamp, which he pressed beside her navel. He then rushed off.
When they got home, the couple tried to read the tiny words printed on the wife's belly, but the print was much too small. They located a magnifying glass and read what the doctor had rubber-stamped:
"When your husband can read this without his glasses, it's time to get yourself to the hospital."
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"Bob says he can get the plan rubber-stamped by next Tuesday."
Thanks to Adem for suggesting today's word!
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