Pressing

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Press \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.
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              Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together.
                                                    --Luke vi. 38.
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     2. To squeeze, in order to extract the juice or contents of;
        to squeeze out, or express, from something.
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              From sweet kernels pressed,
              She tempers dulcet creams.            --Milton.
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              And I took the grapes, and pressed them into
              Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's
              hand.                                 --Gen. xl. 11.
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     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.
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     4. To embrace closely; to hug.
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              Leucothoe shook at these alarms,
              And pressed Palemon closer in her arms. --Pope.
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     5. To oppress; to bear hard upon.
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              Press not a falling man too far.      --Shak.
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     6. To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or
        hunger.
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     7. To exercise very powerful or irresistible influence upon
        or over; to constrain; to force; to compel.
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              Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the
              Jews that Jesus was Christ.           --Acts xviii.
                                                    5.
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     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.
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              He pressed a letter upon me within this hour.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              Be sure to press upon him every motive. --Addison.
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     9. To drive with violence; to hurry; to urge on; to ply hard;
        as, to press a horse in a race.
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              The posts . . . went cut, being hastened and pressed
              on, by the king's commandment.        --Esther viii.
                                                    14.
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     Note: 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.
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     {Pressed brick}. See under {Brick}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Pressing \Press"ing\, a.
     Urgent; exacting; importunate; as, a pressing necessity. --
     {Press"ing*ly}, adv.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  pressing
       adj : compelling immediate action; "too pressing to permit of
             longer delay"; "the urgent words `Hurry! Hurry!'";
             "bridges in urgent need of repair" [syn: {urgent}]
       n 1: the act of pressing; the exertion of pressure; "he gave the
            button a press"; "he used pressure to stop the
            bleeding"; "at the pressing of a button" [syn: {press},
            {pressure}]
       2: a metal or plastic part that is made by a mechanical press

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  93 Moby Thesaurus words for "pressing":
     abetment, actuating, acute, animating, blandishment, burning,
     buttonholing, cajolement, cajolery, causal, causative, clamant,
     clamorous, coactive, coaxing, compelling, compulsatory, compulsive,
     compulsory, concentration, constraining, critical, crucial, crying,
     decoction, demanding, directive, distillation, draining, driving,
     dunning, encouragement, exacting, exigent, exorbitant, expression,
     extortionate, goading, grasping, grave, high-pressure,
     high-priority, impelling, imperative, imperious, important,
     importunate, importunateness, importunity, impulsive, inducive,
     infusion, insistence, insistent, instance, instant, irresistible,
     loud, major, momentous, motivating, motivational, motive, moving,
     nagging, needling, persistent, pertinacious, pestering, pivotal,
     plaguing, plying, portentous, pressure, pricking, prodding,
     profound, rendering, rendition, restraining, serious, significant,
     soaking, spurring, squeezing, steeping, taxing, teasing, urgency,
     urgent, urging, vital, wheedling