1.An impression of the pattern of ridges on the skin of the last joint of a person's finger, left on a surface after a person has touched the surface. Note: Fingerprints left by persons who have committed crimes are considered as reliable physical evidence linking an individual with a crime, because each person's fingerprints are distinctively different from those of others, allowing identification of a person with high confidence.
2.A fingerprint (1) made intentionally in ink on a paper form for the purpose of identification of the individual.
3.Any distinctive pattern of characteristics or properties of an object which can serve to identify that object; as, the distinctive fingerprint of eugenol in the mass spectrum allowed easy recognition of its presence in the sample.
4.A smudge made by a (dirty) finger.
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