Press | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Prĕss, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. PRESSED (prĕst); p. pr. & vb. n. PRESSING.] [Fr. presser, It. pressare, from Lat. pressare, to press, from premere, pressum, to press; D. & Ger. pressen, Dan. presse, Sw. prissa.]

Sense 1. To urge with force or weight; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to squeeze; to crush; 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; the smith presses iron with his vise.

Sense 2. To squeeze in order to extract the juice or contents of; to express liquor from.

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

Sense 3. To squeeze in or with suitable instruments, in order to make smooth, as to press paper, cloth, and the like.

Sense 4. To embrace closely; to hug.

Leucothoe shook And pressed Palemon closer in her arms. Pope.

Sense 5. To oppress; to bow down; to distress; to straiten. [Obs.]

O, my lord, press not a fallen man. Shak.

Sense 6. To urge with earnestness or importunity; to exercise very powerful or irresistible influence upon or over; to constrain; to force; to compel.

He pressed a letter upon me, within this hour, to deliver to you. Dryden.

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

Sense 7. To drive with violence; to hurry; to urge on; as, to press a horse in motion, or in a race.

Sense 8. To inculcate with earnestness; to urge; to enforce; as, to press divine truth on an audience.

Sense 9. To force into service, particularly into naval service; to impress.

The peaceful peasant to the wars is pressed. Dryden.

☞ 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.

Press, v. i.

verbintransitive

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

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

The insulting victor presses on the more. Dryden.

Thronging crowds press on you as you pass. Dryden.

Sense 3. Hence, to urge with vehemence or importunity; to exert strong or compelling influence.

When arguments press equally in matters indifferent, the safest method is to give up ourselves to neither. Addison.

Sense 4. To approach unseasonably, or importunately.

“Nor press too near the throne.” Dryden.

Press, n.

noun

[Fr. presse, Pr., Pg., & It. pressa, Sp. prensa, Dan. & Ger. presse, Sw. präss. See supra.]

Sense 1. An instrument or machine by which any thing is pressed or squeezed; 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 by a prefix; as, a packing-press, a wine-press, a cider-press, a copying-press, and the like.

Sense 2. Specifically, a machine for printing; a printing-press.

Sense 3. Hence, the art or business of printing and publishing; hence, the publications issued from the press, taken collectively; as, a free press is a great blessing to a free people; a licentious press is a curse to society.

Sense 4. A case, or closet, for the safe keeping of articles.

Sense 5. The act of pressing or pushing forward.

Which, in their throng and press to the last hold, Confound themselves. Shak.

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

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

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

Sense 8. A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.

I have misused the king’s press. Shak.

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 of sail (Naut.), as much sail as the state of the wind will possibly permit.

An engraving of a mechanical press with a vertical screw, crossbar, and lever. — Press.