press

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Zoology An East Indian insectivore (Tupaia ferruginea). It is arboreal in its habits, and has a bushy tail. The fur is soft, and varies from rusty red to maroon and to brownish black.

Origin: Corrupt. fr. prest ready money advanced, a loan; hence, earnest money given soldiers on entering service. See Prest, noun

To force into service, particularly into naval service; to impress.

To peaceful peasant to the wars is pressed.— John Dryden

Origin: For prest, confused with press.

A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.

I have misused the king's press.— William Shakespeare

Press gang, or Pressgang, a detachment of seamen under the command of an officer empowered to force men into the naval service. See Impress gang, under Impress. — Press money, money paid to a man enlisted into public service. See Prest money, under Prest, adjective

Origin: F. presser, fr. L. pressare to press, fr. premere, pressum, to press. Cf. Print, verb

1. To urge, or act upon, with force, as weight; to act upon by pushing or thrusting, in distinction from pulling; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to bear upon; to squeeze; to compress; as, we press the ground with the feet when we walk; we press the couch on which we repose; we press substances with the hands, fingers, or arms; we are pressed in a crowd.

Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together.— Luke vi. 38.

2. To squeeze, in order to extract the juice or contents of; to squeeze out, or express, from something.

From sweet kernels pressed, She tempers dulcet creams.— John Milton

And I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.— Gen. xl. 11.

3. To squeeze in or with suitable instruments or apparatus, in order to compact, make dense, or smooth; as, to press cotton bales, paper, etc.; to smooth by ironing; as, to press clothes.

4. To embrace closely; to hug.

Leucothoe shook at these alarms, And pressed Palemon closer in her arms.— Alexander Pope

5. To oppress; to bear hard upon.

Press not a falling man too far.— William Shakespeare

6. To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or hunger.

7. To exercise very powerful or irresistible influence upon or over; to constrain; to force; to compel.

Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.— Acts xviii. 5.

8. To try to force (something upon some one); to urge or inculcate with earnestness or importunity; to enforce; as, to press divine truth on an audience.

He pressed a letter upon me within this hour.— John Dryden

Be sure to press upon him every motive.— Joseph Addison

9. To drive with violence; to hurry; to urge on; to ply hard; as, to press a horse in a race.

The posts... went cut, being hastened and pressed on, by the king's commandment.— Esther viii. 14.

☞ Press differs from drive and strike in usually denoting a slow or continued application of force; whereas drive and strike denote a sudden impulse of force.

Pressed brick. See under Brick.

1. To exert pressure; to bear heavily; to push, crowd, or urge with steady force.

2. To move on with urging and crowding; to make one's way with violence or effort; to bear onward forcibly; to crowd; to throng; to encroach.

They pressed upon him for to touch him.— Mark iii. 10.

3. To urge with vehemence or importunity; to exert a strong or compelling influence; as, an argument presses upon the judgment.

Origin: F. presse. See 4th Press.

1. An apparatus or machine by which any substance or body is pressed, squeezed, stamped, or shaped, or by which an impression of a body is taken; sometimes, the place or building containing a press or presses.

☞ Presses are differently constructed for various purposes in the arts, their specific uses being commonly designated; as, a cotton press, a wine press, a cider press, a copying press, etc. See Drill press.

2. Specifically, a printing press.

3. The art or business of printing and publishing; hence, printed publications, taken collectively, more especially newspapers or the persons employed in writing for them; as, a free press is a blessing, a licentious press is a curse.

4. An upright case or closet for the safe keeping of articles; as, a clothes press. William Shakespeare

5. The act of pressing or thronging forward.

In their throng and press to that last hold.— William Shakespeare

6. Urgent demands of business or affairs; urgency; as, a press of engagements.

7. A multitude of individuals crowded together; … crowd of single things; a throng.

They could not come nigh unto him for the press.— Mark ii. 4.

Cylinder press, a printing press in which the impression is produced by a revolving cylinder under which the form passes; also, one in which the form of type or plates is curved around a cylinder, instead of resting on a flat bed. — Hydrostatic press. See under Hydrostatic. — Liberty of the press, the free right of publishing books, pamphlets, or papers, without previous restraint or censorship, subject only to punishment for libelous, seditious, or morally pernicious matters. — Press bed, a bed that may be folded, and inclosed, in a press or closet. James Boswell — Press of sail, Nautical, as much sail as the state of the wind will permit.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54