Press (?), n. Zool. 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.
© Webster 1913.
Press, v. t. [Corrupt. fr. prest ready money advanced, a loan; hence, earnest money given soldiers on entering service. See Prest, n.] To force into service, particularly into naval service; to impress.
To peaceful peasant to the wars is pressed.
Dryden.
© Webster 1913.
Press, n. [For prest, confused with press.] A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.
I have misused the king's press.
Shak.
Press gang, ∨ 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, a.
© Webster 1913.
Press, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pressed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Pressing.] [F. presser, fr. L. pressare to press, fr. premere, pressum, to press. Cf. Print, v.] 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.
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.
Pope.
5. To oppress; to bear hard upon.
Press not a falling man too far.
Shak.
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.
Dryden.
Be sure to press upon him every motive.
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.
© Webster 1913.
Press, v. i. 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.
© Webster 1913.
Press, n. [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.
Shak.
5. The act of pressing or thronging forward.
In their throng and press to that last hold.
Shak.
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. Boswell. -- Press of sail, Naut., as much sail as the state of the wind will permit.
© Webster 1913. | 
