Dū'ress or Du-rĕss'1, n.
n. [O. Fr. duresse, durece, hardship, severity; Pr. duressa, dureza, duricia, Sp. & Pg. dureza, It. durezza, durizia, Lat. duritia, durities, from durus, hard.]
Sense 1. Hardship; constraint; pressure; imprisonment; restraint of liberty.
The agreements . . . made with the landlords during the time of slavery, are only the effect of duress and force. Burke.
Sense 2. (Law.) The state of compulsion or necessity in which a person is induced, by the unlawful restraint of his liberty, or actual or threatened violence, to make a deed or contract, or to discharge one, or to commit an offense. Bouvier.