| 释义 |
▪ I. press, n.1|prɛs|
Forms: α. 3–7 presse, (4 presce), 4– press. β. 3–6 pres (dat. 3–4 prese, prece), 4–6 prees, prese, prece, 5 preesse, Sc. preys, 5–6 preas, preese, Sc. preis, 5–7 preace, preasse, 6 Sc. preise, preiss, ? prais, 6–7 prease.
[Two distinct forms: α. ME. presse, a. F. presse (11th c. in Littré) = Pr. pressa, It. pressa, verbal n. from stem of F. presser = It. pressare, L. pressāre, freq. of premĕre, press-um to press; or ? Romanic fem. n. from press-us, -a, -um, pa. pple. of premĕre; β. ME. prês, prees, in 16–17th c. prese, preas(e, preace, found as a parallel form only in early senses. The relation of this to the Fr. and the α-forms presents difficulty. Cf. the two corresponding forms of the verb, press and prese, prease, and see Note below. (The spelling pres generally means prês, but may be sometimes = press. Press in Barbour is doubtful, and may have been = prês.)]
I. In reference to crowding, pressure of persons, circumstances, affairs, etc.
1. a. The condition of being crowded or thronged; a crowd, a throng, a multitude. arch.
αa1225Ancr. R. 168 Me is loð presse. a1400R. Brunne's Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11255 (Petyt MS.) Grete presse was at the procession. c1400R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) App. XX. 190 Þe king forþ com & out of þe presce [v.r. pres] mid strengþe him nom. c1400Destr. Troy 2157 The pepull was depertid & the presse voidet. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxvii. 50 Great was the press of peopill dwelt about. 1557N. T. (Genev.) Matt. viii. 1 Great presse of people folowed him. 1581W. Stafford Exam. Compl. iii. (1876) 76 As in a presse going in at a straight, the formost is driuen by him that is nexte hym. 1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 15 Who is it in the presse, that calles on me? a1657Sir J. Balfour Ann. Scotl. (1824–5) II. 170 The presse so augmented, that the Ducke was forced to returne with speed to his lodgeing. 1741–3Wesley Extract of Jrnl. (1749) 45 It was some time before I could possibly get out of the press. 1866Whittier Our Master xiv, We touch him in life's throng and press, And we are whole again. 1891C. E. Norton Dante's Purgatory x. 64 Round about him there seemed a press and throng of knights.
βc1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 101/30 [She] cam ant touchede þe lappe of ore louerdes cloþes ene Ase he eode In grete prece. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11242 So þey ches, ffor to departe þer mykel pres. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 880 Þay..distresed hym wonder strayt, with strenkþe in þe prece. c1386Chaucer Wife's Prol. 522 Greet prees at Market maketh deere ware. c1390― Truth 1 Flee fro þe prees. c1440Promp. Parv. 412/2 Prees, or thronge, pressura. 1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cxcviii. 177 Anon doth hym oute of prece [ed. 1520 prees]. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xv. 33 Convenient tyme, lasar, and space, But haist or preiss of grit menȝie. 1526Tindale Mark v. 27 She cam into the preace [Great, Rhem. preasse, Genev., 1611 prease] behynde hym and tewched hys garment. 1558T. Phaer æneid iii. G ij b, The preas with crooked paws [the Harpies] are out. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 3 Far from all peoples preace. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster v. ii, Those whom custome rapteth in her preasse. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. i. 77 Great belly'd women,..would shake the prease And make 'em reele before 'em. 1700Dryden Iliad i. 338 When didst thou thrust amid the mingled preace [rime peace]?
b. A throng or crush in battle; the thick of the fight; an affray or mêlée.
† Phr. proud in pres, said of a knight: see proud a.
α1375Barbour Bruce ii. 430 Thai prikyt then out off the press [rime wes]. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon i. 44 Grete was the presse and the bataylle fyers. c1500Lancelot 867 And in the press so manfully them seruith, His suerd atwo the helmys al to-kerwith. 1610Donne Pseudo-martyr 264 They..are seldom drawen to any presse or close fight. c1764Gray Triumphs Owen 24 There the thundering strokes begin, There the press, and there the din. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vii. II. 168 He..fought, sword in hand, in the thickest press.
βc1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 720 At which bataille Þe Troiens lees, & fledde fro þat mykel prees. c1350Will. Palerne 3848 Bliue with his burnes he braide in-to prese. c1400Destr. Troy 1201 Mony perysshet in þe plase er þe prese [mispr. prise] endit. c1489Caxton Blanchardyn li. 194 He brake & departed the grete preesses, so that his enmyes made waye byfore his swerde. a1500Sir Beues 3087 (Pynson) Beuys thoroughe the preas dyd ryde. 1513Douglas æneis x. xiv. heading, Hym to ravenge his lyfe lost in the pres [ed. 1555 preis]. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cvii. 129 They..russhed into y⊇ thyckest of the preace. 1550Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 1135 Than Makferland that maid the prais, From time he saw the Squyeris face, Upon his kneis he did him yeild. 1596Spenser F.Q. iv. iv. 34 Into the thickest of that knightly preasse He thrust.
†c. in press: in a crowd, crowded together, in the thick of the fight. Obs.
β1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xliv. (Percy Soc.) 213, I marveyle muche of the presumption Of the dame Fame so puttyng in ure Thy great prayse, saiyng it shall endure For to be infinite evermore in prease [rime cease]. 15..Adam Bel 143 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 144 Among them all he ran, Where the people were most in prece, He smot downe many a man. 1581Mulcaster Positions xvi. (1887) 74 Here will desire throng in prease, though it praise not in parting. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1986/2 The Scots..ran sharplie forward.., and without anie mercie, slue the most part of them that abode furthest in prease.
2. The action or fact of pressing together in a crowd; a crowding or thronging together.
α1595Shakes. John v. vii. 19 With many legions of strange fantasies, Which, in their throng and presse to that last hold, Confound themselues. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 134 There was such a presse to kisse his feet. 1823Byron Juan xiii. xviii, Give gently way, when there's too great a press. 1833H. Martineau Tale of Tyne iv, The press of vessels near the port is very awful. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 369 The great press was to get near the chair where John Dryden sate.
βc1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 15/494 Þat folk him siwede with gret pres. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 87 For to here hym wes sik prese, Þat fawt of rowme gret þar wes. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xxiv. 504 By the grete prees & stampyng of their horses. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 24 b, Where was suche prease of the people, that harnessed men had muche a do to kepe them backe. a1643W. Cartwright Lady Errant ii. iv, Our loves what are they But howerly Sacrifices, only wanting The prease and tumult of Solemnity?
†3. The condition of being hard pressed; a position of difficulty, trouble, or danger; a critical situation; straits, distress, tribulation. Obs. or arch.
α1375Barbour Bruce iii. 129 The King wes then in full gret press. c1440York Myst. xlviii. 289 In harde presse whan I was stedde, Of my paynes ȝe hadde pitee. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. lxxv. 115 Such Cordials, as frolick the heart, in the press of adversity.
βa1300Cursor M. 5608 Born in þat sith was moyses Þat þe folke was in þat pres [Trin. prees]. c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 311 In alle þis grete pres praied þe kyng of France, Þe Scottis suld haf pes þorgh Edward sufferance. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccclvii. 577 They wolde not medell, nor be in no busynesse nor prease. 1573J. Davidson Commend. Vprichtnes 153 Bot cheifly anis he was put to ane preace, Quhen that the Quene of tressoun did accuse him. 1601J. Melvill Diary (Wodrow Soc.) 496 But pruff thy preass can nocht be understude.
4. Pressure of affairs; urgency, haste, hurry.
α1641Vind. Smectymnuus xi. 111 Poore men cannot have their Presse wayted on, as your greatnesse may. 1836Going to Service vi. 69 Roused to the press of an occasion, as if she acquired double power of diligence. 1883Fortn. Rev. May 734 The eager press of our modern life. 1888W. D. Lighthall Yng. Seigneur 52 What..is your press about going to England?
βa1400–50Alexander 3382 For no prayer ne preese [v.r. pres] ne plesaunce on erth..rynne shuld he neuer. c1400Destr. Troy 11910 Þan the grekes..With proses and pres puld vp þere ancres. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. xxii. (S.T.S.) I. 222 The fray and noyis..causit þe Veanis to rusche with maist preiss to harnes. a1547Surrey æneid ii. 430 Amid the flame and armes ran I in preasse.
†5.
a. Phr. to put oneself in press: (?) to exert oneself, use one's endeavour, set oneself, undertake. (Cf. press v. 17.) Obs.
α1540R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1541) 135 b, Lest she be to homely, to put her self in presse, in company of her seruauntes, namely if she be yonge.
β1387–8T. Usk Test. Love Prol., That I..wil putten me in prees to speke of loue. c1420Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1755 When the Son of Man put hym in prese, Wylfully to suffre dethe for mankynde. a1529Skelton Bowge of Courte 44 But than I thoughte I wolde not dwell behynde; Amonge all other I put myselfe in prece. 1542Recorde Gr. Artes Pref. a iij, Yet am I bolde to put my selfe in preasse with suche abilitie as God hathe lente me..to helpe my countrey men. 1551Bible (Matthew) Ps. xxii. 21 note, The common people of the Iewes, who cruelly & furiously put them selues in prease agaynst Christe, cryinge, crucifie him, crucifie him. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 208 We see hym put hymselfe in prease, to occupie a place in thys most noble consistorye.
†b. to put in preace: ? to exercise, put in practice. (Perh. a Spenserian misuse.) Obs. rare.
β1579Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 69 The vaunting Poets found nought worth a pease, To put in preace emong the learned troupe.
6. Psychol. Something in the environment to which (a need in) the organism reacts (see quot. 1938).
1938H. A. Murray Explorations in Personality ii. 40 A tendency or ‘potency’ in the environment may be called a press... For example, a press may be nourishing, or coercing, or injuring, or chilling,..or amusing or belittling to the organism. Ibid. 42 The endurance of a certain kind of press in conjunction with a certain kind of need defines the duration of a single episode. 1953Jrnl. Abnormal & Social Psychol. XLVIII. 532/2 So we know two things about his narrators: their ambition and their most recent press. That press, as our hypothesis predicts, they projected directly into their..Tests. 1969J. W. Getzels in Lindzey & Aronson Handbk. Social Psychol. (ed. 2) V. xlii. 501 There was no evidence that student press influenced the level of aspiration, at least so far as Merit students are concerned. 1973Jrnl. Genetic Psychol. CXXIII. 87 Four slides were used to test for the presence of hostile press.
II. In reference to the physical act or process. (Rarely in β-form.)
7. a. The act of pressing (something); pressure.
1513Douglas æneis iii. i. 73 But eftir that the thrid syon of treis,..I schupe to haue wprevin with mair preise [rime peice]. 1899E. J. Chapman Drama Two Lives, Dream's End. 95 The proud lips meet with icy press. 1903D. McDonald Garden Comp. Ser. ii. 82 Give it [the bulb] a gentle press sufficient to more than half bury it.
b. In Gymnastics, a raising of the body by continuous muscular effort.
1901Health & Strength Apr. 36/2 (heading) One arm body press... Lie flat on the ground..and with hand beneath centre of chest press the body up to arm's length. 1956Kunzle & Thomas Freestanding i. 22 The presses to handstand are one of the best forms of strength training because at the same time the gymnast learns how to fight for and maintain a hand balance when the arms feel extremely tired.
c. Weight-lifting. A raising of a weight from the floor to shoulder-height followed by its gradual extension above the head.
1908Health & Strength Ann. 93 Continental lifts differ considerably from those in practice in this country... The Continental ‘Press’ is a cross between the above [sc. the ‘Push’] and the English ‘Press’... The Continental ‘Press’ can only be distinguished from our ‘Arm Press’ by a slight side wriggle. 1914Ibid. 83 Thomas Inch lifted 304½ lbs. (bent press) at Scarborough in December. 1925F. G. L. Fairlie Official Rep. VIIIth Olympiad, 1924 255 Middleweights... Two hands, Military Press: Galimberti (Italy), 214½ lb. 1928Health & Strength Ann. 77 Lifters are urged to maintain themselves in a state of readiness on the three Olympic lifts, viz: ‘Two Hands Clean and Military Press with Barbell’, ‘Two Hands Snatch’, and the ‘Two Hands Clean and Jerk with Barbell’. 1935Encycl. Sports 704/2 There are swings, presses, snatches, jerks, all made with one hand, as well as two-hand and shoulder lifts. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 1099/1 At the 1924 Olympic Games the lifts were one hand snatch, opposite one hand jerk, two hands clean and press, two hands snatch, and two hands clean and jerk.
d. The action of pressing clothes.
1932D. C. Minter Mod. Needlecraft 145/2 Muslin and lawn dresses usually require a final all-over press. 1957J. Osborne Look Back in Anger i. 16 I'll give them a press while I've got the iron on. 1962M. Duffy That's how it Was iii. 33 The girls would..run up something new..to wear the same evening with a quick press before they went out. 1975Byfield & Tedeschi Solemn High Murder i. 6 ‘These things could do with a press if that's possible.’ The smell of tropical mildew clung to the rumpled winter⁓weight clericals he handed the man.
e. In Basketball, any of various forms of close marking by the defending team. Also transf.
1961J. S. Salak Dict. Amer. Sports 341 Press (basketball), a maneuver designed to hamper the offensive team's ability to move the ball toward their basket. There are many types of ‘presses’. 1971L. Koppett N.Y. Times Guide Spectator Sports iii. 86 The press itself creates openings for the offense. 1976Honolulu Star-Bull. 21 Dec. h–1/5 A full-court press enabled Kalani to wipe out a 13-point third quarter lead. 1978W. Safire Political Dict. 248 ‘Full-court press’ became White House lingo in the late sixties... In politics, the term has come to mean a strenuous effort to get legislation passed probably because of its resemblance to ‘all-out pressure’. In basketball, however, the phrase is used only to describe a defense.
8. A mark made by pressing; a crease; fig. an impression.
1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. xl. (1631) 175 Meditation goeth with so faint a presse in my braine, that it is soon wiped out. a1688Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Restoration (1775) 95 May their false lights undo 'em, and discover presses, holes, strains and oldness in their stuffs.
9. The action of pressing (forward).
1893Daily News 14 Apr. 2/2 The press forward of the horse against the stress of the blast. 1895Ibid. 16 May 6/3 Russia is beginning to feel uncomfortable from the press forward of Chinese in her Asiatic States.
10. Naut. press of sail, canvas (formerly press sail, prest sail, pressing sail): ‘as much sail as the state of the wind, etc., will permit a ship to carry’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.). Cf. crowd n.3 3 b.
The earlier variants press sail, etc., leave the origin obscure.
1592Nashe Four Lett. Confut. Wks. (Grosart) II. 240 I my self,..make my stile carry a presse saile. a1642Sir W. Monson Naval Tracts iii. (1704) 331/2 Keeping the Sea..with a contrary Wind, foul Weather, and a press Sail. 1693Lond. Gaz. No. 2888/2 All Night we run along the shore with a press Sail. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II. s.v. Prest Sail, A Ship at Sea is said to carry a Prest Sail, when she carries all that She can possibly Croud. 1772Phil. Trans. LXIV. 129 We..carried a pressing sail, with hopes of reaching Torbay before dark.
1794Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 372 The gale..obliged me to carry a press of sail to clear the shore towards Cape Corse. 1806A. Duncan Nelson 61 He bore away with a press of sail for Malta. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxvi, Foaming in her course, and straining under the press of sail. 1884H. Collingwood Under Meteor Flag 92, I carried on under a heavy press of sail.
III. An instrument or machine by which pressure is communicated. (Only in form press.)
11. a. An instrument used to compress a substance into smaller compass, denser consistency, a flatter shape, or a required form: usually distinguished by prefixing a qualifying word, expressing purpose, as baling press, coining press, copying press, packing press, rolling press, sewing press, stamping press, the name of the thing pressed, as bonnet press, cheese press, clothes press, cotton press, hay press, napkin press, or the power or mechanical contrivance employed, as cam press, hydraulic press, screw press, toggle press; etc.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 127 Þenne I drouȝ me a-mong þis drapers,..Among þis Riche Rayes lernde I a Lessun,..Putte hem in a pressour [v.r. presse (so in B.); C. vii. 219 pressours] and pinnede hem þer-Inne. c1440Promp. Parv. 412/2 Presse, or pyle of clothe, panniplicium, pressorium. 1483Cath. Angl. 290/2 A Presse for clathe, lucunar, panniplicium, vestiplicium. 1513Act 5 Hen. VIII, c. 4 §1 Divers Strangers..dry calander Worsteds with Gums, Oils, and Presses. 1532More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 797/1 Stretched out as it wer in the presse or tenter hokes of a strong fullar. 1570Levins Manip. 84/31 A Presse for backs, prælium. 1674in J. Simon Irish Coins (1749) 138 To import such a quantitie of copper blocks or chipps as may possible with two presses, to be coyned by the spring ensueing. 1727–41Chambers Cycl. s.v., Rolling Press, is a machine used for the taking off prints from copper-plates. 1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) I. 31 Directions for drying..Specimens of Plants... First prepare a press, which a workman will make. 1787M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 269 Another great curiosity was a rolling press, for taking the copies of letters or any other writing. 1824J. Johnson Typogr. II. xv. 553 Hydraulic Presses..are now deemed a valuable acquisition to the printing profession. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 77 The wood is fit for..screws for presses, spokes for wheels, chairs, &c. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Copying-press, Copying Machine, a press for taking duplicate or manifold impressions on damped paper from manuscripts by a lever. 1873E. Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. 394/1 The necessary tools for small [book-binding] work are:..a sewing press; a cutting press [etc.].
fig.c1374Chaucer Troylus i. 559 And so kan leye oure Iolyte on presse. And bryng oure lusty folk to holyness.
b. The apparatus for inflicting the torture of peine forte et dure: see press v.1 1 b.
a1734North Lives (1826) I. 287 He would not plead to the country..till the press was ready; and then he pleaded, and was, at last, hanged. 1839W. H. Ainsworth J. Sheppard iii. xv, The ponderous machine, which resembled a trough, slowly descended upon the prisoner's breast. Marvel, then, took two iron weights, each of a hundred pounds, and placed them in the press.
12. a. An apparatus for expressing or extracting the juice, or the like, out of anything: usually designated by prefixing the name of the substance extracted, as wine press, oil press, cider press, sugar press, etc.
a1380Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. lii. 131 Til grapes to þe presse beo set, Þer renneþ no red wyn in raþe. 1382Wyclif Isa. lxiii. 3 The presse I trad alone. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxii. (Bodl. MS.), Þe faster oile reneþ oute of þe presse..þe better it is acounted. 1483Cath. Angl. 291/1 A Presse for wyne, bachinal, calcatorium [etc.]. 1530Palsgr. 258/1 Presse for lycour, pressover. 1553Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 40, 28 . suger presses, to presse ye sugre whiche groweth plentifully in certaine canes or redes of the same countrey. 1616Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 430 Put them in a haire cloth or hempen bagge, for to presse in a presse that hath his planke hollow and bending downeward. 1707Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 328 After your Apples are ground they should be..committed to the Press. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 291 Presses used for expressing liquors, are of various kinds.
†b. press of Herophilus [Gr. ληνός (Herophilus, in Galen), L. torcular Herophili]: the enlarged reservoir at the union of the four sinuses of the dura mater, opposite the tuberosity of the occipital bone. Obs.
1578Banister Hist. Man. v. 78 The quadruplication of Dura mater..is called a presse, & lyeth betwene the brayne and Cerebellum. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 150 [A vessel] which both the Greeke & Latine physicions call by a name that signifieth a presse, because the blood is pressed into it for the nourishing of the braine.
13. In the Jacquard loom, The mechanism which disengages the needles or wires which are not to act from the lifting-bar.
1875Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 3 The name press is given to the assemblage of all the pieces which compose the moveable frame BB.
14. a. A machine for leaving the impression of type upon paper, vellum, or other smooth surface; a machine for printing, a printing-press. Often qualified, as Stanhope press, Albion press, Miehle press, etc.
[1507in Blades Caxton Plate vii. (from Ascensius Bk.), Prelum Ascensianum.] 1535[see d]. 1536J. Rastell Will, My house in St. Martyns, with my presse, notes and lettres comprised in the same. 1565Cooper Thesaurus, Prelum, a presse that eyther Printers or any other occupation vseth. 1574Will of Johane Wolfe, All the presses, letters, furniture, etc., belonging to the arte of prynting. 1588Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 22 Waldegraues printing presse and Letters were takken away. 1594R. Ashley tr. Loys le Roy 22 Then the gouernour of the Presse taketh these last chasies or fourmes, and laieth them on the marble of his Presse. 1598Stow Surv. 394 Therin [the Ambry,] Islip, Abbet of Westminster, first practized and erected the first Presse of booke Printing that euer was in England, about..1471. 1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing ii. ⁋1 His Presses have a solid and firm Foundation. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xiii. 3 The privilege of keeping presses was limited to the members of the stationers' company. 1853N. & Q. 1st Ser. VIII. 10/1 Charles Earl Stanhope, whose versatility of talent succeeded in abolishing the old wooden printing-press, with its double pulls, and substituting..the beautiful iron one, called after him the ‘Stanhope Press’. 1873H. Spencer Stud. Sociol. (1882) 126 The last achievement in automatic printing—the Walter-Press. 1896Howells Impressions & Exp. 11 A second-hand Adams press of the earliest pattern and patent.
b. Used as an inclusive name for the place of business of which the printing-press is the centre, in which all the stages and processes of printing are carried on; a printing-house or printing-office. Often used in the names of such printing establishments, e.g. the Clarendon Press, Oxford, the Pitt Press, Cambridge, the Aldine Press, Leadenhall Press, Chiswick Press, etc. Hence, contextually, for the personnel of such an establishment, the compositors or printers, printer's readers, etc.
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse To Rdr. (Arb.) 18 Because you are learned amende the faultes freendly, which escape the Presse. 1589Pasquil's Ret. A iij b, That worke shall come out of the Presse like a bryde from her chamber. 1590Nashe Pasquil's Apol. i. B j, When he carried his coppie to the Presse. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 200 While these Sermons were betweene the Pulpit, and the Presse. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §104 The Presses swell'd with the most virulent Invectives against them. a1656Bp. Hall Rem. Wks. (1660) 82 We should not have such libellous presses. 1670G. H. Hist. Cardinals i. iii. 87 There is a Press.. for all Foreign Languages. 1797Monthly Mag. III. 46 An elegant and splendid edition of ‘Archimedes’, from the Clarendon Press. 1841Macaulay Ess., L. Hunt (1887) 594 The Athenian Comedies..have been reprinted at the Pitt Press and the Clarendon Press under the direction of Syndics and delegates. 1849― Hist. Eng. vii. II. 263 The Dutch arms..were scarcely so formidable to James as the Dutch presses. 1900H. Hart (title) Notes on A Century of Typography at the University Press, Oxford, 1693–1794.
c. The printing-press in operation, the work or function of the press; the art or practice of printing.
1579Fulke Confut. Sanders 661 His report is more to bee credited then the Printers presse. 1641More's Rich. III, Ded., Having for many yeares escaped the presse. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. xxxv. (1674) 42 Of all Modern inventions..the precedency ought to be given to the Press..; and that now the Press had..for ever secured the past and present labours of the Vertuosi. 1663R. L'Estrange (title) Considerations and Proposals in Order to the Regulation of the Press. 1791–1823D'Israeli Cur. Lit., Licensers Press, Under..William III..the press had obtained its perfect freedom. c1880Tennyson Despair xvi, These are the new dark ages, you see, of the popular press.
d. In phrases belonging to 14, b, or c, as at, in, † under (the) press, in the process of printing, being printed; off the press, finally printed, issued; † out of press, = prec., also out of print (obs.).
1665Boyle Occas. Refl. Introd. Pref. (1848) 11 Papers..discovered to have been lost when some of the rest were to be *at the Press. 1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. p. viii, After the volume has been at press upwards of a year.
1535Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 21 One bothe to wryte yt and to correcke it *in the presse. 1545Leland New-Year's Gift (1549) C iv, Part of the exemplaries,..hath bene emprynted in Germany, and now be in the presses chefely of Frobenius. 1642Chas. I in Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §399 A Declaration now in the Press. 1670–1T. Pierce in Lett. H. More (1694) 43, I have a Book in the Press. 1764Burke Let. to J. Dodsley 9 Feb. in Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. (1898) 2/1 I suppose that by this our work is in the press. 1900Advertisement, In the press, and shortly will be published, a new work by [etc.].
1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. p. iv, The first intelligence..of the sheets being in hand, was the announcement that they were also ‘*off the press’.
1622Peacham Compl. Gent. xiii. (1634) 128 His peeces have been long since worne *out of press. 1674Newton in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 367 Hearing that Mr. Kersey's book is out of press, I desire you would send in the fourth part.
1612Sir R. Naunton in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 113 The great work of his Chrysostome then *under press. 1721Lond. Gaz. No. 5961/2 A Memorial of the Grocers..said to be under the Press.
e. In many other phrases, in which press passes from the literal sense 14 into that of c, as to bring, put, commit, send, submit to the press; to carry, see through the press; to come to, pass, undergo the press; to correct the press, i.e. the printing, or the errors in composing the type; to go to press (also fig.), to read for press.
1582T. Watson Centurie of Loue Ep. Ded., The world..called vpon mee, to put it to the presse. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 75 If I had seene it before it came to the presse, it should not have passed so. 1605Gunpowder Plot in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 5 Being about to commit them to the press. 1631Massinger Emperor East Ded., Such trifles of mine as have passed the press. 1646Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres ii. To Rdr., I know not whether they may ever undergoe the Presse. 1649W. Dugdale in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 175 Soe may he correct the presse, which will be an especiall matter. 1691Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 696 A stop was made for some years of bringing the second [vol.] to the Press. 1715T. Hearne Let. 2 Feb. (MS.), I find Mr. Urry's Chaucer advertised as being to go to y⊇ Press in a little time. a1764Lloyd Author's Apol. Poet. Wks. 1774 I. 2 But when it comes to press and print You'll find, I fear but little in't. 1800Med. Jrnl. III. 274 It will be submitted to the Press in the course of the ensuing month. 1810Irish Mag. III. 279/2, I shall, therefore..go immediately to press, be squeezed into the genteelest form I can. 1846G. Dodd Brit. Manuf. 6th Ser. 57 To read for press—that is, to search for the minutest errors. 1848Halliwell Ingelend's Disobed. Child (Percy Soc.) Pref., It was formerly a very common practice to correct and alter the press whilst the impression was being taken. 1867E. Quincy Life J. Quincy 477 My father took an active interest in this publication, and corrected the press himself. 1869Sir J. T. Coleridge Mem. Keble (ed. 2) 265 A translation..is now being carried through the press. a1909Mod. In his absence, I am to see the book through the press. 1929Yeats Let. 13 Sept. (1954) 768, I will work at it here and there... I should go to press with it next spring. 1933[see hope n.1 4 a]. 1951[see bed n. 6 c]. 1961Financial Times 11 July 6 At the time of going to press..it is not possible to determine any very definite trend of trading at the present time.
f. freedom or liberty of the press: free use of the printing-press; the right to print and publish anything without submitting it to previous official censorship; see liberty 2 b, and quots. So in free press, unfettered press, etc.
[1644(title) Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Vnlicenc'd Printing To the Parlament of England.] 1680R. L'Estrange (title) A Seasonable Memorial,..upon the Liberties of the Presse and Pulpit. 1681W. Denton Jus Cæsaris ad fin., An Apology for the Liberty of the Press. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. xi. 151 The liberty of the press is indeed essential to the nature of a free state; but this consists in laying no previous restraints upon publications, and not in freedom from censure for criminal matter when published. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 15 July, He said, he should always consider the liberty of the press as a national evil, while it enabled the vilest reptile to soil the lustre of the most shining merit. 1789Constit. U.S. Amendm. i, Congress shall make no law..abridging the freedom of the press. 1827Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) III. xv. 167 The liberty of the press consists, in a strict sense, merely in an exemption from the superintendence of a licenser. 1903in Westm. Gaz. 11 Aug. 8/2 It has been pointed out over and over again,..that the licence of the Press is not the liberty of the Press.
g. (Also periodical press or public press, daily press, etc.) The newspapers, journals, and periodical literature generally; the newspapers and journals of a country, district, party, etc., as the French Press, the London Press, the Conservative Press, the religious press, the secular press, etc. Hence sometimes the title of a newspaper, as The Press, The Scottish Press, The Aberdeen Free Press, etc.
This use of the word appears to have originated in phrases such as the liberty of the press, a servile or shackled press, to write for the press, etc., in which ‘press’ originally had sense c above, but was gradually taken to mean the products of the printing-press. Quotations before 1820 are mostly transitional, leading gradually up to this sense.
1797The Press (Dublin) No. 1. 1 By some fatality of late, the Press of the harassed country has been either negligent or apostate; it has been a centinel a-sleep on its post... It is now proposed to establish a newspaper, to be solely and unalterably devoted to the people of Ireland and their interests, under the appellation of The Press. 1798Anti-Jacobin No. 36. 281 For this purpose, the Press was engaged, and almost monopolized in all its branches: Reviews, Registers, Monthly Magazines, and Morning and Evening Prints sprung forth in abundance. 1807Edin. Rev. X. 115 Unlimited abuse of private characters is another characteristic of the American press. 1817Cobbett in Weekly Polit. Reg. 11 Jan. 53 Silencing the press would not enable them to pay the interest of the debt. 1820Lond. Mag. I. 569 The Manager has thought it his duty to suspend the Free List during the representation, the public press excepted. Ibid. 575 The gentlemen-critics of the daily press. 1823Edin. Rev. XXXVIII. 349 (Article) The Periodical Press. Ibid., If he had not had the fear of the periodical press before his eyes. Ibid. 359 The staple literature of the Periodical Press may be divided into Newspapers, Magazines, and Reviews. Ibid. 360 This paper [the Morning Post] we have been long used to think the best..that issued from the daily press. 1828Lancet 19 Jan. 595/1 Sir Astley Cooper, in a silly speech at a public dinner, talked of the ‘reptile press’. 1840Penny Cycl. XVI. 194/1 The two principal persons..at this time concerned in the newspaper press. Ibid. 195/1 Capital to the amount of {pstlg}500,000 at least is invested in the daily press of London, of which two-thirds..may be represented by the morning papers. 1843Ruskin Arrows of Chace (1880) I. 3, I seldom, therefore, read..the ordinary animadversions of the press. 1862Trollope Orley F. xiii, There was also a reporter for the press. 1885Sir C. P. Butt in Law Times Rep. LIII. 61/2 After so much discussion..in the public press on this question. Mod. The book has been favourably noticed by the press.
h. a good press: see good a. 13. Hence to have (receive, etc.) a good (or bad, mixed, etc.) press: to be favourably (or unfavourably, divergently, etc.) commented on or criticized in current newspapers, journals, etc. Also transf., to receive (favourable, etc.) publicity, to be (favourably, etc.) appraised in conversation or in literature.
1908[see good a. 13]. 1913R. Fry Let. Oct. (1972) II. 373 Has it [sc. an exhibition] been a success, and has there been any decent Press on it? 1915[see good a. 13]. 1920Sat. Rev. 10 July 26 Mr Austen Chamberlain has a very bad press. 1928[see good a. 13]. 1932Statesman (Calcutta) 2 Aug., It was the clearest case, for years, of how county cricket should not be conducted. Allom had a lively Press last Wednesday! 1934H. G. Wells Exper. Autobiogr. II. vii. 501, I wish I could hear at times of people still reading these three stories: they got, I think, a rather dull press. 1958Listener 13 Nov. 769/1 Cromwell had rather a mixed press for his great day. 1961P. Kemp Alms for Oblivion 1 In Britain General Franco had not enjoyed a good Press. 1967Observer 26 Nov. 8/3 The Phoenicians had a largely hostile press from the Bible and from their rivals the Greeks and Romans. 1976Women's Report Sept./Oct. 4/1 Chiswick Women's Aid has had a good press recently because the DHSS has withdrawn some of its grant money. 1977Sunday Times 30 Jan. 38/1 Rape is enjoying a very educative Press from TV dramatists at the moment.
i. Usu. with the: used collectively for journalists, esp. reporters; also, of an individual reporter.
1926in S. Bent Ballyhoo (1927) ii. 55 At least a half dozen times since the wedding the unfortunate composer has been badgered by the press until some such statement as ‘we are very happy’ has beeen wrung from him. 1949‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xii. 102 ‘He says he's a reporter,’ Lana said... ‘Oh, no!’ Bee said. ‘Not the Press. Not already.’ 1951M. Dickens My Turn to make Tea iv. 45 ‘Here's the Press, Waldo,’ his wife told him, ‘come to put Marjorie in the Post.’ Ibid. vii. 122 Sister..said that if I was The Press, Matron had deputed her to show me round. 1956C. Mackenzie Thin Ice x. 129 The dinners of the East Indiamen were held once a quarter without excessive formality and, what was more important for the speaker, without the Press. 1973A. S. Neill Neill! Neill! Orange Peel! ii. 235 The Salvation Army damsel..came to a young man sitting alone. ‘Are you saved?’ ‘Press,’ he said. ‘Oh, I beg your pardon,’ and she moved hastily away. 1974P. N. Walker Major Incident viii. 95 As the police were desperately trying to clear the streets, the first of the press were trying to drive in. 1978M. Butterworth X marks Spot ii. i. 73 Arrange for the exhumation forthwith. Seal off Highgate Cemetery... No Press. No television.
IV.
15. A large (usually shelved) cupboard, esp. one placed in a recess in the wall, for holding clothes, books, etc.; in Scotland, also for provisions, victuals, plates, dishes, and other table requisites. Cf. clothes-press 1. Also attrib.
c1386Chaucer Miller's T. 26 His presse ycovered with a faldyng reed. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. cv. (1495) gg iv/1 Whanne the cloth is to longe in presse & thicke ayre. a1533Ld. Berners Huon cxi. 384 There were presses..in the whiche presses were gownes and robes of fyne golde, and ryche mantelles furryd with sabyls. 1552in Bury Wills (Camden) 142, I gyve her my newe cubbord with the presse in yt and too great books the Bybyll and the New Testament, with the Booke of the Kings Statuts. 1566Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 67 One sepulcre—sold to Johnne orson and he haith made a presse therof to laie clothes therein. 1598Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 226 In the house, & in the chambers, and in the coffers, and in the presses. 1600J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 125 Each chamber hath a presse curiously painted and varnished belonging thereunto. 1686Inv. in Essex Rev. (1906) XV. 172 Two chayers, one presse cubbord. 1709Hughes Tatler No. 113 ⁋9 A Press for Books [with four shelves]. 1753Smollett Ct. Fathom (1784) 35/2 He should..conceal himself in a large press or wardrobe, that stood in one corner of the apartment. 1790Burns Tam o' Shanter 125 Coffins stood round like open presses, That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses. 1802Findlater Agric. Peebles iii. 41 The ambry, or shelved wooden press, in which the cow's milk, and other..provision are locked up. 1859Jephson Brittany xiii. 221 In a press with glass doors, she showed me some beautiful reliquaries. 1888Barrie Auld Licht Idylls ii. 50 A ‘press’ or cupboard containing a fair assortment of cooking utensils. 1892Pall Mall G. 16 Jan. 7/3 The Sliding Book-Press at the British Museum. Ibid., The principle of a sliding or hanging press is entirely peculiar to the British Museum, and hardly could have originated elsewhere than in a building possessing..floors and ceilings entirely grated. 1952J. Gloag Short Dict. Furnit. 374 Press cupboard, a large cupboard with a superstructure consisting of a shelf with smaller cupboards behind it..introduced during the second half of the 16th century. 1959L. A. Boger Compl. Guide Furnit. Styles xxii. 384 The name press cupboard was given in America to a form of cup-board resembling the English hall and parlor cupboard. 1970Canad. Antiques Collector Jan. 29/1 A further kind of cupboard..was called a press, or press-cupboard, and was about the same general size and shape as a modern wardrobe. 1975Oxf. Compan. Decorative Arts 651 Press cupboard, a large cupboard, sometimes confused with a court cupboard, which came into use in the latter half of the 16th c. and remained in fashion until the 18th c. It had the upper part recessed with contained cupboards and a shelf running in front of them.
V. attrib. and Comb.
16. General combinations:
a. attributive, (a) of a press (senses 11, 12), as press-bar, press-beam, press-block, press-board, press-frame, press-plunger, press-shop, press-table, etc.; (b) of or pertaining to the printing-press, to printing, or to journalism, as press advertising, press boss, press camera, press campaign, press censor, press-censorship, press club, press-correspondent, press-folk (cf. pressman), press freedom, press-girthing, press interview, press-mohawk, press-organ, press pass, press-people, press photo, press photograph, press photographer, press photography, press-reader, press ticket, press-worker.
b. [from the vb. stem.] (a) Used to press, pressing, as press-barrel, press-box, press-harrow; (b) Operated by pressing, as press-cock, press switch; (see also sense 17 d below); also pressbutton n. and a., press-fastener, etc.
c. objective genitive, as press-builder, press-building, press-haunter, press-maker, press-mauler.
d. instrumental, as press-made, press-noticed, press-ridden adjs.
1961Travel Topics June 41/1 When one first thinks of *press advertising, it conjures up the thought of taking space in the national dailies or Sunday papers.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 158 (Bookbinding) The *pressbar, or beam, has two holes upon its under surface, for securing it to two pegs standing on the top of the chest.
1794Rigging & Seamanship 55 *Press-barrels are old tar-barrels filled with clay, and laid on the sledge or drag to add weight when the rope is closing. 1803Naval Chron. X. 477 The [old] tar barrels..are applied to the purpose of serving as a weight in laying..rope, and are called press barrels.
1932E. Pound Let. 18 Feb. (1971) 239 There is no reason why young England shd. pardon the ineffable polluters and saboteurs. What they have done to stifle literature in Eng., tho not so important as the *press-bosses’ stifling of economic discussion, is all of piece [sic].
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 448 (Oil-mill), 16, the first *press-box, (also hollowed out of the block,) in which the grain is squeezed, after it has come for the first time from below the mill-stones. 17, the second press-box, at the other end of the block, for squeezing the grain after it has passed a second time under the pestles.
1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 194 Associated with Smith, he [Richard Hoe's father] had turned his attention to *press building in general. 1896T. L. De Vinne Moxon's Mech. Exerc., Printing 410 Press-building was not a distinct trade in 1683.
1948A. L. M. Sowerby Dict. Photogr. (ed. 17) 89 The typical *Press camera consists of a frame containing the shutter, fitted at the back for plates in dark slides and with the lens carried on a flat panel supported at the four corners by struts and connected with the camera body by bellows. 1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media xx. 200 The press camera contributed to radical changes in the game of football. 1974Encycl. Brit. Macropædia XIV. 330/2 Press cameras are loaded with sheet film..for fast, handheld shooting; they are traditionally of folding-bellows design with a lens standard on an extendable baseboard.
1903‘Vigilans sed æquus’ German Ambitions vi. 86 The German *press campaign against our army in South Africa. 1951M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 40/1 The working woman was put into adolescent short skirts and told in big press campaigns that the age-old tyranny of man was at an end.
1900W. S. Churchill Let. 1 May in R. S. Churchill Winston S. Churchill (1967) I. Compan. ii. 1174 Wolverton is here, one of the *press censors. 1940L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 65 George Seferiades..chief foreign press censor, who is a remarkable poet and person.
1887Pall Mall G. 9 Aug. 5/1 An aggressive and oppressive *press-censorship. 1939‘G. Orwell’ in New English Weekly 12 Jan. 203/2 The radio, press-censorship, standardised education and the secret police have altered everything. 1978‘A. York’ Tallant for Disaster vi. 93 Even the British have press censorship... What about all those D-notices and things?
1896Peterson Mag. Mar. 311/1 The Pittsburgh Women's *Press Club made a wise choice in selecting for a secretary Miss Marie de Sayles Coyle. 1967L. T. Braun Cat who ate Danish Modern ii. 20 Why don't we meet for drinks at the Press Club?
1932Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVI. 854 The ideal starter..was a self-contained unit in which only one simple operation, such as pressing a *press-cock, was required.
1900Macm. Mag. May 36 One of our *press-correspondents at the present day.
1729Swift Wks. (1841) II. 98 Mist..happened to reprint this paper in London, for which his *press-folk were prosecuted.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 448, Fig. 460 is the elevation of the pestle and *press-frame, their furniture, the mortars, and the press-pestles.
1974Times 18 Nov. 15/1 Advertisers threaten *press freedom if they try to use their advertising power as a form of censorship.
1840J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 146 For pulverizing stiff clays, Concklin's *press-harrow is an admirable instrument.
1597G. Harvey Trimming Nashe Wks. (Grosart) III. 67 To all ballet-makers, pamphleters, *presse hanters, boon pot poets, and such like.
1923Radio Times 23 Sept. 18/3 Mr. J. W. Reith, the General Manager of the B.B.C...has managed to avoid..the usual *press interviews. 1976L. Henderson Major Enquiry viii. 47 The report of Shenton's press interview was given great prominence by the Evening News.
1886Pall Mall G. 4 Sept. 14/1 The original introducer of *press-made pens. 1900Daily News 11 May 3/2 The..theory that this is a capitalist- and Press-made war.
1705J. Dunton Life & Err. 244 He has been an indefatigable *Press-mauler, for above these Twenty years.
1844Thackeray Box of Novels Wks. 1900 XIII. 399 The nation..looks upon the *press-Mohawks..as it did upon the gallant young noblemen who used a few years since to break the heads of policemen.
1906in Westm. Gaz. 24 Sept. 4/2 One of the best *Press-noticed books he had ever published.
1895Daily Tel. 27 Aug. 4/7 The pernicious example..was followed by more than one Parisian *press-organ.
1914Automobile Topics 6 June 303/1 Primary cause for protest was the method adopted by the Speedway management of distributing *press passes. 1977H. Innes Big Footprints ii. i. 103 They weren't interested in my press pass or the fact that I was an American TV man.
1964M. McLuhan Understanding Media xx. 200 A *press photo of battered players in a 1905 game. Ibid., The press photo coverage of the lives of the rich. 1980R. McCrum In Secret State xviii. 168 The dashing whizz-kid of the press photos.
1944M. Laski Love on Supertax ii. 31 Suppose you wanted a really flattering *press photograph and I knew someone who'd fake it up. 1974‘J. Le Carré’ Tinker, Tailor xxiii. 196, I had with me the American press photographs of the arrest.
1922M. Arlen Piracy 7 Those young women of patrician and careless intelligence, whom it is the pet mistake of bishops, diarists, *press-photographers, and Americans, to take as representing the ‘state’ of modern society. 1974‘M. Innes’ Appleby's Other Story v. 44 One has to think of the reporters and press-photographers.
1922L. Warren Journalism xxi. 230 In a book such as this it is quite out of the question to go into details concerning *press photography. 1980Times 3 Mar. 14/6 Life..was press photography for the press photographer at its most splendid.
1884C. G. W. Lock Workshop Receipts Ser. iii. 361/1 The die is easily reached by lifting the chamber e, which is done by attaching the same to the *press-plunger and elevating the latter.
1849Longfellow Kavanagh xiii. (1857) 228 This country is not priest-ridden, but *press-ridden.
1798Times 28 June 1/3 At the back of the said dwelling-house are also a *press-shop and other conveniences for carrying on the Business of a Merchant. 1958Engineering 11 Apr. 461/1 The current expansion programme, which includes the opening of a new press shop later this year and a new assembly building early in 1959. 1959Motor Manual (ed. 36) i. 8 In the latest press shops, all the presses engaged in the production of one component are arranged in a long line, and are linked by roller conveyors.
1892E. J. Houston Dict. Electr. Words (ed. 2) 424/2 Pressel, a *press switch or push connected to the end of a flexible pendant conductor.
1971Engineering Apr. 20/2 Mounting of the equipment on the movable *press-table is also easy.
1851J. Chapman Diary 10 July in G. S. Haight Geo. Eliot & J. Chapman (1940) 191 Spencer gave me a ticket for the Opera..and might have had an excellent place but for the vexing regulation that ‘*press tickets’ must be exchanged which destroyed my chance of admittance. 1976‘D. Fletcher’ Don't whistle ‘Macbeth’ 17 Some idiot in the box office had allocated press tickets for the first matinée instead of the first night.
17. Special combs.
a. from senses 11, 12: press-cake, = mill-cake (a); press-copy n., a copy of a writing made by transfer in a copying-press; hence press-copy v.; press-drill, (a) = land-presser; (b) see quot. 1884; † press-fat, a vat used for collecting the produce in an oil- or wine-press; press-forged a., forged by pressure; press-house, the house or building containing a press; a place where pressing is done; press-iron, = pressing-iron; press-key, a thumb-screw used to tighten and hold the cords of a sewing-press, in bookbinding; press-mould (see quot. 1974); so press-mould v., press-moulding vbl. n., press-moulded ppl. a.; press-pack v., trans. to pack or compress (something) into small compass by means of a press (Webster 1864); press-pin, the lever of a screw-press; press-plate, (a) in Bramah's press = follower n. 5; (b) a plate of metal placed between the press-boards of a standing press; press-pole, a pole used in pleaching: see quot.; press-printing, printing by a press; a method of printing porcelain: see quot.; press-ware: see quot.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 629 It comes out in large thin solid cakes, or strata, distinguished by the term *press-cake. 1858Greener Gunnery 43 Two pieces of lignum vitæ..are placed on the broken press-cakes in each sieve.
1796Gouv. Morris Let. to Lady Sutherland 22 Aug., I will fold up in this a *press copy of my last, because the original may have been drowned.
1834Penny Cycl. II. 224/2 In such soils an artificial pan may be formed by the land-presser or *press-drill. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Press Drill, a drilling machine largely used in gun and sewing machine work.
1611Bible Haggai ii. 16 When one came to the *press-fatte [1885 R.V. winefat] for to draw out fiftie vessels out of the presse, there were but twentie.
1895Daily News 14 Nov. 6/5 His gun, Captain Jaques explained, would be made of a few hollow, *press-forged, cold⁓drawn, taper cylinders of alloyed steel.
1744N. Jersey Archives XII. 211 To Be Sold,..A new Fulling-Mill, *Press-House and Dye-House. 1878J. Inglis Sport & W. iv. 34 The huge lever is strained and pulled at by the press-house coolies. 1900Westm. Gaz. 25 Oct. 7/2 Allowing the populace to enter the press-house of the vine⁓yard.
1892Zangwill Children of Ghetto I. 45 He taught them how to handle a *press-iron.
1974Savage & Newman Illustr. Dict. Ceramics 233 *Press-mould, an absorbent mould made of lightly fired clay or plaster of Paris, and into which clay is pressed by hand to make such objects as small ornaments for relief or sprigged decoration. a1977Harrison Mayer Ltd. Catal. 95/2 A range of simple Press Moulds in 5 basic shapes.
1969Speck & Sutherland Eng. Antiques 190/2 *Press-moulded glass. 1971Country Life 27 May 1303/1 The [Staffordshire slipware] dish is press-moulded and is signed ‘I.S.’.
1958H. Wakefield in Edwards & Ramsey Connoisseur Period Guides: Early Victorian Period 100/2 It was the period in which the process of *press-moulding was first developed for the production of dishes and other open shapes.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1031 Upon the top of the ram, the *press-plate or table..rests, which is commonly called the follower, because it follows the ram closely in its descent.
1868Report U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 257 Two men use the *press-pole,..the other uses the pleaching-hook. The pole is thrust through behind each stout vertical sapling, when both men pull gently and equally. Thus bent back a little, the third man cuts it two-thirds through, cutting obliquely downward with the pleaching-hook.
1875Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 7) III. 620 There are two distinct methods of printing in use for china and earthenware; one is transferred on the bisque, and is the method by which the ordinary printed ware is produced,..called ‘*press-printing’.
1612Sturtevant Metallica 38 *Press-ware or Mould-ware is any thing that can bee made, wrought, or formed of clay and earth,..by Presse and Mould, or by pressing and moulding.
b. (connected with printing and journalism): press attaché, a diplomat responsible for the dealings of an embassy with the press; press baron, a powerful newspaper owner, a newspaper magnate, esp. one who is a member of the peerage (see baron 2 b); press-blanket, a piece of flannel or felt used on a printing-press to equalize the impression of the type; press boat, a boat reserved for the use of reporters at a boat race or similar event; press book, (a) a volume of press cuttings; (b) a book printed at a private press, a type of fine book (see fine a. 12 d); press-box, a shelter for newspaper reporters in the open air, as at a cricket or football match; press-boy, a boy employed as messenger in a printing-office; in the United States, a machine-boy; press card, a document that authorizes a reporter to practise journalism, or one that gains him admission; press clipping orig. U.S. = press cutting; also attrib.; hence press-clipper; press conference, a meeting at which journalists and other representatives of the news media are given an opportunity to put questions to a politician, writer, etc.; also (rare) (with hyphens) as v. trans.; press corps, a group of reporters (usu. in a specified place); press-corrected a., designating a text of which the proof sheets have been corrected before publication; press correction, (a) the act or process of correcting errors in a text during preparation for publication; (b) an error marked for correction; press-corrector, a proof-reader; Press Council, a body established in the U.K. in 1953 to raise and maintain professional standards among journalists; press coverage, the reporting (of an event) by the press; press-cutter = press cutting agency; press cutting, a paragraph, article, or notice, cut from a newspaper; also attrib. as press-cutting agency, press cutting album, press cutting book, press cutting bureau, press cutting people; press day, (a) a day on which journalists are invited to an exhibition, a performance, etc.; (b) the day on which a journal goes to press; press digest, a digest or summary of press reports; press-gallery, a gallery or part of the house at any public meeting, set apart for reporters; esp. that in the House of Commons or other legislative chamber; press kit, a dossier prepared for journalists; press-law, a law as to the licensing of printing, esp. of the newspaper press; press notice, a review in a newspaper or other periodical of a book, play, or the like; press number, a number at the foot of the page of an early printed book showing on which press or by which printer the page was printed (see quot. 1961); press office, an office within an organization or government department responsible for dealings with the press; press-proof, -revise, the last proof examined before printed matter goes to press; press release, an official statement offered to newspapers for publication; press run, a spell of allowing a printing-press to run; the amount of printed material produced as a result; press secretary, a secretary who deals with publicity and public relations; press show, a performance given for the press, esp. a film shown to journalists before general release; also attrib.; so press-show v. trans.; press stand, a section of the tiered seats for spectators at racing or field events reserved for reporters; also attrib.; press-stone, the bed of a printing-press; press table, a table reserved for journalists esp. in a court of law; press time, the time at which a newspaper goes to press; press-tradition, handing down in print; press view, a viewing of an exhibition by journalists before it is open to the general public. See also press agent.
1938A. Barmine Mem. Soviet Diplomat i. 16 When Krestinsky was at the Berlin Embassy, Stern had served for many years as his *Press Attaché. 1980‘R. Deacon’ Spy! iii. 86 She had made a favourable impression with the press attaché.
1958Spectator 20 June 794/3 The history of the rise in the peerage of the *press barons..is one of the shoddiest episodes in the whole story of the press. 1975Times 3 July 14/3 (caption) Press barons together; Lord Thomson shares a smile with..Lord Beaverbrook.
1870D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel xxiv. 363 By the side of the *Press boat, the Umpire's boat..was anchored, many of the passengers wearing the rival colors. 1901R. H. Davis in Scribner's Mag. Aug. 131/1 The press-boats buried their bows in the waters of the Florida Straits and raced for the cable-station at Port Antonio.
1897A. Beardsley Let. 6 Jan. (1971) 240, I quite forgot to return you the cuttings for your *press book. I enclose them now. 1930Publishers' Weekly 19 Apr. 2116/2 The past five years has seen keen collecting interest in Press books both early and modern. 1976Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Mar. 271/3 There is also a large output of less sumptuous..books..produced by a host of part-time private presses, small publishers who commission fine books, and trade printers who..take time off to print a worthwhile book... It is to cover these books that the term ‘press books’ has been coined.
1889Sporting Life (Philadelphia) 10 July 5/5 The upper stand..will contain the seats for ladies and their escorts and the private boxes, not forgetting the *press box. 1905Westm. Gaz. 12 Dec. 9/2 A series of scrimmages on that side of the field remote from the press-box. 1976Dexter & Makins Testkill 61 Festing followed me to the Press box and sat..in silence until the end of the game.
1890Cent. Dict., Machine-boy, in the United States known as feeder or *press-boy.
1934N.Y. Times 20 Feb. 18/3 The number of *press cards has been cut by 55 per cent. 1951‘A. Garve’ Murder in Moscow iii. 41, I went on to see the head of the Soviet Press Department and collect my press card. 1976Times 27 Feb. 15/2 The use of fake press cards by soldiers in Ulster puts genuine journalists in danger.
1903Everybody's Mag. July 127/1 The *press-clippers caught every reprint.
1903Christendom Apr. p. ii (Advt.), United States *Press Clipping Bureau. 1904G. B. Shaw Let. 6 Apr. (1972) ii. 416 PPS I subscribe to an American press clipping agency. 1942D. Powell Time to be Born (1943) i. 20 Julian fussed with some press clippings. 1975Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xv. 232 The same is no less necessary for English, the ‘materials’ of which are duplicated sheets, press-clippings, files, photographs, and so on.
[1923A. Cecil in Cambr. Hist. Brit. Foreign Policy III. viii. 628 [During the 1914–18 war] Lord Robert Cecil used to hold a kind of weekly reception for American journalists, when they were at liberty to question him on Foreign Affairs. ]1937Time 1 Mar. 9/3 One afternoon Mrs. Roosevelt stole into the President's regular semi-weekly *press conference to say good-by to her husband. 1953Manch. Guardian Weekly 2 Apr. 7/4 Another general was soon to press⁓conference himself into the Presidency. 1958New Statesman 15 Mar. 332/3 This programme..takes one of two forms: either it is a press-conference in which an eminent person is questioned by journalists in several countries, or it is a straight discussion between those taking part. 1976Eastern Even. News (Norwich) 9 Dec. 1/5 ‘I don't believe anyone in this industry wants a dispute,’ Sir Derek said at a Press conference during a visit to Bedlay Colliery Lanarkshire.
1940G. Seldes Witch Hunt i. 6 He came to Trier and used the American *press corps. 1974Sunday Times 21 July 1/3 A 200-strong international Press corps confined to the hotel by the island's [sc. Cyprus's] 24-hour curfew.
1964F. Bowers Bibliogr. & Textual Crit. v. ii. 139 Editors should choose the First Folio *press-corrected reading..instead of the quarto and the uncorrected Folio reading.
Ibid. i. iii. 19 A brief look at some problems of *press-correction will illustrate with suitably neutral examples.
Ibid., *Press-correctors do not deliberately introduce typographical errors in the copy.
1947Minutes of Evidence R. Comm. on Press 12 Nov. 23/2 in Parl. Papers 1947–8 (Cmd. 7330) XIV. 533 The proposal is that there should be a *Press Council, something..approximating to the General Medical Council.., and that there should be punishments and rewards instituted in order to raise and preserve the standards of professional behaviour within the newspaper profession. 1953Times 5 Nov. 4/2 The new Press Council had proclaimed deep concern at the unwholesome exploitation of sex by certain newspapers and periodicals. 1977Evening Post (Nottingham) 27 Jan. 6/1 If a newspaper were genuinely hostile to the Labour Party and decided, as a result, that in future no reference would be made to it or its troubles and triumphs, there would be an excellent case for reporting the newspaper to the Press Council for failing to do its duty.
1957J. Mitford Poison Penmanship (1979) 34 These examples represent only a very tiny sampling of *press coverage of this part of the case. 1961C. Willock Death in Covert iii. 71 All goes down to advertising. Whynne says we'll get it back twice over in press coverage. 1976Times 27 Feb. 15/1 Documents from army sources critical of press coverage in Northern Ireland.
1901G. Gissing Let. 30 Nov. in G. Gissing & H. G. Wells (1961) 200, I have never dared to subscribe to the *press-cutters, for I remember..the day when a press notice meant a sneer which disturbed my work.
1888Pall Mall G. 4 May 11/1 A Visit to a *Press-cutting Agency... For some time an agency has been at work for supplying newspaper references—at so much per hundred cuttings or a yearly subscription. 1898G. B. Shaw Let. 24 Mar. (1972) II. 22 A sheaf of pamphlets & press cuttings. 1899Westm. Gaz. 5 May 2/3 Mr. Chamberlain has recently made a feeling protest against government by Press-cutting agency. 1901Cycl. Tour. Club Gaz. Oct. 389 The press cuttings that lie before us. a1916‘Saki’ Infernal Parliament in Square Egg (1924) 148 Pasting notices of modern British plays into a huge press-cutting book. 1922A. E. Housman Let. 26 Oct. (1971) 206 The press-cutting agency sends me..more notices than I want to see. 1929T. S. Eliot Dante iii. 63 He, Dante Alighieri, was an important person who kept press-cutting bureaux busy. 1936‘G. Orwell’ Let. 26 Aug. in Coll. Ess. (1968) I. 228, I don't know what sort of reviews it got in France—I only saw about two..the press-cutting people didn't get them. 1941V. Nabokov Real Life S. Knight xi. 102 A press-cutting agency began to pepper him with samples of praise. 1942‘M. Innes’ Daffodil Affair i. 37 He has consulted his colleagues; assistants have been turning over press cuttings. 1967‘E. Peters’ Black is Colour iii. 53 Things like the press-cutting book and the photographs get into arrears very easily. 1967J. B. Priestley It's an Old Country vii. 84 Magazines and paperbacks, jigsaw puzzles, photograph and press-cutting albums.
1923A. Huxley Antic Hay vii. 103 It was *Press Day. The critics had begun to arrive. 1956J. Symons Paper Chase xiii. 99 ‘Press day. Very busy.’ He waved the galleys. 1972C. Fremlin Appointment with Yesterday xiv. 113 The Editor ringing up, more and more irate, as press day drew near.
1958New Statesman 20 Sept. 368/3 The *press-digest which the President and Mr Dulles receive from the US embassy in London. 1977G. Markstein Chance Awakening xxv. 76 The press digest was lying on his desk.
1884Yates Recoll. II. vii. 286, I..was in the *press-gallery of the Chamber..on the 24th May. 1897[see gallery n. 3 d].
1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 1/8 The ad hoc committee of five had already quietly rented space in a downtown Ottawa office building and prepared a slick *press kit. 1977New Yorker 3 Oct. 36/2 Our advance word on this event [sc. the publication of a new encyclopaedia] came to us in the form of a fat press kit, stuffed with fact sheets and kind words about the work.
1897E. L. Voynich Gadfly ix, A new *press-law was expected.
1888‘Mark Twain’ Let. 1 Oct. in C. Clemens Mark Twain (1932) iii. 49, I thank you ever so much for not forgetting to remember to send me the *press notice. 1977J. Aiken Last Movement i. 37 ‘What about your opening?’.. ‘Big success. I'll show you our press notices.’
1895Funk's Stand. Dict., *Press-number. 1949Harvard Library Bull. III. ii. 198 (title) Press numbers as a bibliographical tool. 1961T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship (ed. 2) 283/2 Press number, small figures which in books printed between 1680 and c. 1823 often appear at the foot of a page, sometimes twice in a gathering. The figures indicate on which press in the printer's workshop the sheet was printed or perhaps the identity of the worker.
1937L. Hellman Diary 17 Oct. in Unfinished Woman (1969) viii. 87, I have been to the *Press Office [in Valencia]..and paid a visit to Rubio, the Press Chief. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1976) II. 269, I must send it straightaway across to the Press Office in Transport House.
1841W. Savage Dict. Art of Printing 597 *Press proof, a good impression of a sheet of a work, or of a job, to read it carefully by, and to mark the errors, previous to its being put to press. 1972P. Gaskell New Introd. Bibliogr. 115 The third and final stage of proof correction was the press proof, when a forme or sheet was read for residual blemishes..just before the actual printing run was about to begin.
1958M. H. Saringulian Eng.-Russ. Dict. Libr. & Bibliogr. Terms 148/1 *Press release. 1964W. Markfield To Early Grave (1965) ii. 29 He sent out press releases, and the Brooklyn Eagle ran a small story. a1974R. Crossman Diaries (1975) I. 67, I therefore gave instructions that for one month all the press releases and all the actual letters to authorities written in my name on planning permissions and compulsory purchase orders should be sent to me. 1976Oxf. Diocesan Mag. July 14/2 There must be the news angle to the press release which, of course, should be factual and not based on rumours or hearsay.
1888C. T. Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 103 *Press revise, the final proof for press or machine. 1960G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. 324/1 Press revise, an extra proof from the corrected type when ready for machining.
1958New Statesman 15 Mar. 328/2 Since there is no ‘preventive censorship’, a paper which incurs the wrath of the government risks losing its entire *press-run, which is simply impounded and placed in the Reuilly Barracks. 1976M. Ierley Year that tried Men's Souls iii. 198 (caption) At the left is the page as it appeared when Publisher Benjamin Towne began his press run.
1959J. Ludwig in Tamarack Rev. Summer 20 Eisenhower with that puzzled look which meant if his *press secretary didn't say something fast he was a goner. 1967H. P. Levy Press Council p. xiii, Sir Richard Colville, the Press Secretary to Her Majesty the Queen, kindly read the chapter on the Royal Family in typescript. 1976P. Alexander Death of Thin-skinned Animal xv. 150 He..announced himself as the London correspondent of Paris Match and said he'd like to speak to Colonel Njala's press secretary.
1958Vogue July 44 American horror films..are never *press-shown and are a disappointment to connoisseurs. 1961John o' London's 15 June 671/1 A hard-boiled press-show audience. 1962Ibid. 2 Aug. 115/1 On my way to the press-show of The Lion. 1963Movie Jan. 20/3, I don't think there are any plans for press-showing it. 1972Times 3 July 7/3 In Rome..I started going to press shows.
1914Automobile Topics 6 June 303/1 Incidentally each applicant was put through the third degree in order to establish his complete identity and right to the *press stand privileges. 1915G. Patten Courtney of Center Garden 53 Passing the press stand, Whip caught Chatterton's eye again. 1937E. Rickman On & off Racecourse vi. 137 He would usually watch the racing from the press-stand.
1683Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xi. ⁋17 The *Press-Stone should be Marble, though sometimes Master Printers make shift with Purbeck.
1922Joyce Ulysses 454 From the *presstable, coughs and calls. 1974F. Nolan Oshawa Project i. 1 By the time the speeches started, the general was drunk... Every correspondent at the press table..could see the signs.
1927S. Bent Ballyhoo ix. 240 It may be timely..but the reasons for printing it are that there is a glut of space to be filled in advance of news *press-time, and that it must be filled with bait which will give the paper ‘attention value’. 1978Rugby World Apr. 19/1 At press-time, Royal High were level on 14 points with Glasgow Academicals and Madras, each club having two games to play, but with only one of the sides to go up alongside Leith.
1675J. Smith Chr. Relig. Appeal i. 16 Conveyed down to us in the same way of pen or *press-tradition that other writings are.
1890G. B. Shaw London Music 1888–89 (1937) 284 My ticket for the *Press view at the Old Masters on Friday! Ibid. 368, I have been at the Royal Academy all day, ‘Press-viewing’ it. 1929R. Fry Let. 27 Dec. (1972) II. 646, I may be able to wangle you one [ticket] for the Press view on Monday.
c. (sense 7 d) press cloth, a piece of cloth placed between the fabric and iron while pressing; press line, a crease made by a pressing iron; press mark, a mark left on fabric by the impress of an iron; hence press-mark v. trans.; press-pad, a soft pad used in pressing clothes.
1918M. J. Rhoe Dress you Wear xi. 127 Nearly all pressing is done over a damp press cloth. 1933A. M. Miall Home Dressmaking vii. 51 You should have a second wet press-cloth ready, and change to it as soon as the first dries, to avoid scorching. 1964McCall's Sewing viii. 118/1 Always use a press cloth to prevent shine when necessary to press on the right side of the garment. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 20 Sept. 2b/3 A final pressing (with press cloth) from the right side will give your coat (and its hem) a brand-new look.
1947C. Talbot Compl. Bk. Sewing xxxi. 208/1 Remove the sharp line by moving the seam back and pressing the sleeve under the seam, removing the press lines from the sleeve. 1948H. Hall Home Dress-Making Simplified vii. 64 It is important to press-mark all the side seams of the waist, the shirt, and the sleeves, as these seams will be the fitting lines of the dress. 1948E. L. Towers Standard Processes in Dressmaking xvi. 116 If press marks appear on the right side of the garment, hold the fabric in the steam of a kettle to remove them. 1974J. Robinson Penguin Bk. Sewing i. ii. 44 If during making a few press marks..do show then remove these by steaming.
1924W. D. F. Vincent Cutters' Pract. Guide Overcoats 73/1 A good plan when damping fronts, lapels and collar is to damp through a double piece of cloth from the back, the silk being face down on the soft cloth press-pad.
d. From the vb. stem (cf. sense 16 b): press fit Engin., an interference fit between two parts in which one is forced under pressure into a slightly smaller hole in the other; cf. shrink fit s.v. shrink v. 17; hence press-fitted a.; press-key, a control or switch similar to a piano key, operated by pressing the end with the finger.
1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. 265 Press fit, a fitting of contiguous parts slightly tighter than a sliding fit.., to allow of the sliding parts being pressed together with a hydraulic press. 1902Internat. Libr. Technol. III. §22. 33 In a press fit, the internal piece..must be enough larger than the hole to insure the development of enough friction between the two pieces to hold it there securely when pressed home. 1971B. Scharf Engin. & its Language xi. 111 Considerable effort is required to assemble the parts: this is reflected in the use of terms such as force, drive or press fit.
1970K. Ball Fiat 600, 600D Autobook vi. 53/2 The side bevels embody the axle shaft slip joint cavities, the free bevels being mounted on a shaft press-fitted into the differential casing. 1976Gramophone Dec. 1092/1 Tape transport is controlled by an array of press-keys all fitted with a non-slip tread to prevent finger slip. [Note. The origin of the β forms prês, prees, preas, prese, prease, preace, is not clear. So far as concerns the lengthened vowel, they go with the similar forms of the verb prêse-n, preese, prease, beside the ordinary press-en, press v.1 These agree with cease, lease, decease from OF. or ME. cesse, lesse, ME. decesse, also with beast, feast, in which original short e before ss, st is lengthened. (See Note to press v.1) The special difficulty in the n. is that ME. prês had no final e (the 15–16th c. -e being only graphical), so that it cannot be identified with OF. and ME. presse. Could it be an Eng. derivative from the long-vowel stem of the vb. prês-e(n? As a formation, it appears to be distinct from presse, press, and might have been treated as a separate word prease or preace; but being obsolete, and its senses (so far as they went) coinciding with those of press, it has for convenience been treated as a parallel form of this word.] ▪ II. press, n.2 Now rare.|prɛs|
[An alteration of or substitution for prest n.1 5, as in press v.2, and press-money.]
1. The impressing of men for service in the navy or (less frequently) the army; compulsory enlistment; = impress n.2, impressment2. Now Hist.[1592Kyd Sol. & Pers. i. v. 27 A common presse of base, superfluous Turkes May soon be leuied. (But this may be press n.1, crowd.)] 1599Minsheu Sp. Dict., Léva, a presse or taking vp men for the war. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 99 He giueth his captaines commissions to take vp souldiers through the whole Realme, (not by presse, as with us) but by striking vp the drumm. 1615Trade's Incr. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 304 The general press that was made of men from all the coasts to man the ships. 1667Lond. Gaz. No. 154/2 The Press for Seamen is great, and several Captains are imployed to raise men both in Denmark and Lubec. 1676I. Mather K. Philip's War (1862) 139 At Boston there is a Press in order to sending forth another Army to pursue the enemy. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 9 It looked liker a press than a levy. 1761–2Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) III. xlix. 779 An English army of twelve thousand foot and two hundred horse was levied by a general press throughout the kingdom. 1771Junius Lett. lix. (1797) II. 196 With regard to the press for seamen..bounties..have a limit. 1793Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) I. 299, I have only got a few men.., and without a press I have no idea our Fleet can be manned. 1803Naval Chron. IX. 328 There was a very hot press last night throughout Plymouth. 1894C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 413 The ‘Press’ does..derive its name..from the ‘prest’ or ‘imprest’ money paid to the man on entry as an earnest of his wages on enlisting in the King's service.
†b. A warrant or commission giving authority to impress recruits. Obs. exc. Hist.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. ii. 13, I haue mis-vs'd the Kings Presse damnably. I haue got, in exchange of a hundred and fiftie Souldiers, three hundred and odde Pounds. 1667Dryden Wild Gallant Epil. 22 They shrink like seamen when a press comes out.
†c. = press-money. Obs.
1626Faithful Friends i. ii, Marc. Hold thee, here's gold; furnish thyself with speed:..These shall along with us too. Receive your press. Calve. Oh, good captain, I have a wife, indeed, sir. Marc. If she be a striker, I will press her too.
2. transf. and fig. Impressment into service of any kind; a requisition.
1667Decay Chr. Piety viii. ⁋44, 233 'Tis this Fear [of singularity] that engages many in it; and though it hath too many voluntiers, yet sure 'tis this press that helps to make up its numbers. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 119 If men of knowledge, prudence, and wealth, have a phansie against a living of twenty or thirty pounds a year, there is no way to get them into such an undertaking, but by sending out a spiritual press. 1855W. Sargent Braddock's Exped. 166 To be reminded that such things as a Press of private means for the benefit of the State still existed. 1894Daily News 25 July 5/6 The Central Government [of China] has placed an emergency press upon the fleet of the China Merchants Company to be taken when necessary for transport of troops.
3. attrib. and Comb., as press-boat, press-ketch, press-smack, press-vessel (a vessel employed in pressing seamen). See also press-gang, press-money, etc.
1688Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 457 The next day the presse boats went down the river to presse seamen. 1696Lond. Gaz. No. 3164/1 On Board any of His Majesty's Ships of War, or Hire-Ships, or on any Press-Vessels, or Tenders. 1702Flying Post Apr. 4/7 Some Press-Ketches in that [Dublin] Harbour have pressed 400 Seamen within a few Days, and..a great many are voluntarily come in. 1745Proj. Manning Navy 6 Those who are daily dragg'd into the Press-Smacks.
▪ III. † press, a. Obs.
[ad. L. press-us, of style, compressed, concise, also close, exact, accurate, precise; in origin pa. pple. of premĕre to press.]
Concise, compendious; close, precise, exact, minute: chiefly of language.
c1611Chapman Iliad xiv. Comm. 199 Homers maner of writing..is so presse, and puts on with so strong a current, that it farre ouer-runnes the most laborious pursuer. 1615Crooke Body of Man 432 There is a double acception of the word Caput among Physitions, one strickt & presse, another large and ample. 1661Rust Origen & Opin. in Phnix (1721) I. 33 They observe not those terms and conditions, being drawn away from a press and careful attendance to them. 1675R. Burthogge Causa Dei 329 Of which persuasion [that the World should have End by Fire]..were all the Stoicks; Seneca is press and full, At illo tempore, solutis Legibus, fine modo fertur [etc.].
▪ IV. press, v.1|prɛs|
Forms: α. 4–5 press-en, -yn, 4–7 presse, 6– press (5 pres). pa. tense and pple. pressed; also 4– prest (4 yprast). β. 4–7 prese, 4–5 prece (4–7 praise), 5–6 preace, 5–7 Sc. preis, -ss, 5–7 (dial. 8–9) prease, 6–7 preasse, 9 dial. preese, -ze.
[Two forms: α. ME. press-en, a. OF. press-er (13th c. in Littré) = It. pressare:—L. pressāre, freq. of premĕre, press-um to press. β. ME. prêse(n, prêce(n, with lengthened vowel: cf. prês, prees, prese, parallel form of press n.1, and see Note below. The β form prevails in branch III, where it appears to be the earlier; it is rare in I and II.]
I. Literal and directly connected senses. Primarily trans.
1. a. trans. To act upon (a body) with a continuous force directed towards or against it (the body by or through which the force is exerted being in contact with that acted upon); to exert a steady force against (something in contact), e.g. by weight (downwards), or by other physical agency or voluntary effort (in any direction); to subject to pressure. to press the button: see button n. 4 b and cf. press-button n. and a.
[13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1249 Prestes & prelates þay presed to deþe.] c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 1787 (Lucrece) And as she wok hire bed she felte presse. c1440Promp. Parv. 412/2 Pressyn, premo, comprimo, presso. c1445Lydg. Nightingale 152 Like hem that pressen quayers of entent In the pressour. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 60 Thou and Romeo presse one heauie beere. 1656tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 211 Of two moved bodies one presses the other, when with its endeavour it makes either all or part of the other body to go out of its place. 1820Shelley Sensit. Pl. ii. 21 Her step seemed to pity the grass it prest. 1839G. Bird Nat. Philos. 89 The layer of fluid would be submitted to unequal pressure, being in b pressed by the long column, and in a pressed only by the shorter column. Ibid. 341 The plane glass against which it is pressed. 1893W. S. Gilbert Utopia 1, You only need a button press.
b. to press (to death): to execute the punishment of peine forte et dure upon (a person arraigned for felony who stood mute and would not plead): see peine. Obs. exc. Hist.
1554Dial. on Laws Eng. ii. xli. 133 He shalbe pressed to death [see peine]. 1604G. Dugdale Disc. Pract. Eliz. Caldwell B iij. According to the Law, he was adiudged to be prest, receiuing his iudgement on the Saturday, to be executed on Munday following. Ibid., [He] was prest. 16753 Inhumane Murthers 6 The same day he was pressed, being very willing to dye. 1770Chron. in Ann. Reg. 129/2 Conoway at first refused to plead, but being taken down and shewn the apparatus for pressing him to death, if he refused, he relented. 1900Daily News 31 Dec. 6 There can be no doubt that it was in 1736 that the barbarous practice of ‘pressing to death’ was last resorted to.
c. As a sign of affection or courtesy (with a person, the hand, etc. as object). Hence to press the flesh: to greet by physical contact; spec. to shake hands (U.S. slang).
1700Dryden Iliad vi. 173 She..press'd Th' illustrious infant to her fragrant breast. 1780Cowper Doves 26 'Tis then I feel myself a wife, And press thy wedded side. 1810Scott Lady of L. ii. xxxvii, The Minstrel's hand he kindly pressed. 1832Tennyson Miller's Dau. 160 She..rose, and..press'd you heart to heart. 1926Maines & Grant Wise-Crack Dict. 8/1 Press the flesh, shake hands. 1933A. E. W. Mason Sapphire ii. 16 ‘Press the flesh,’ said I, extending my hand. 1975W. Safire Before the Fall vi. v. 436 The Soviet leader [sc. Brezhnev] surprised Kissinger..with his American political habit of ‘pressing the flesh’—punching an arm, squeezing, backpatting. 1977National Observer (U.S.) 22 Jan. 14/3 After the assassination of John Kennedy, some said no future President would be able to ‘press the flesh’. But both Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford felt that personal appearances were integral to campaigning. 1977Time 7 Nov. 31/2 Aides had to coax him into playing fewer tennis matches with celebrities..and spending more time pressing the flesh.
d. intr. To exert pressure; to bear with weight or force on, upon, against. Also in Gymnastics, with various prepositions.
1815J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art I. 76 The column sustained by the bottom of such a vessel..is therefore no more than what would press upon the bottom of a vessel Y. Ibid. 232 To make the surfaces intended to be in contact, press against each other simultaneously and uniformly in every part. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville III. 240 The heavy buffalo..are easily overtaken by the Blackfeet; whose fleet steps press lightly on the surface. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 88 Since air possesses weight, it necessarily presses upon any object exposed to its influence. 1956Kunzle & Thomas Freestanding i. 25 From prone support jump up to a knee and elbow balance... From there learn to press up to handstand and then lower again. Ibid. 26 Use the ankles to bounce the body into the air again, pressing through with the toes to get the maximum impulse. Ibid. ii. 32 Straighten out with the knees, press off on to one leg and lower the trunk sideways. 1964G. C. Kunzle Parallel Bars iii. 83 Do not neglect specific strength training, such as..pressing to handstand against the wall bars.
2. a. trans. To cause to move in some direction or into some position by pressure; to push, drive, thrust. (With various advbs. and preps.)
c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxiv, If..þe foote and þe knees haue..ypressede þe grasse a doune. a1425Cursor M. 11829 (Trin.) Þe dropesy so to gider him prest. c1440Promp. Parv. 412/1 Precyn in, ingero. Ibid. 412/2 Presse downe, deprimo, reprimo. 1526Tindale Luke vi. 38 Good measure, pressed doune, shaken to gedder, and runnynge ouer. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. xviii. 495 The Wind being on our broad side, prest her down very much. 1824R. Stuart Hist. Steam Engine 196 The steam presses the pistons or valves forward in that direction. 1832R. & J. Lander Exped. Niger I. xi. 84 The weight of his..ornaments almost pressed him to the ground. 1842Tennyson Locksley Hall 90 Baby fingers, waxen touches, press me from the mother's breast. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 250 The blood pressed up the vena cava can be aspirated into the right heart.
b. fig. (usually with down).
a1340Hampole Psalter, Cant. 497 Noght pressid down in þe luf of þis warld. 1382Wyclif Bible Pref. Ep. i. 61 Pictagorax..more wilnyng other mennus thingis shamfastli to lernen, than his owne vnshamfastli to prece forth [sua impudenter ingerere]. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 82 We felt the burthen of necessitie pressing downe our shoulders. 1668R. Steele Husbandman's Calling vii. (1672) 188 The husbandman..hath weights to press him down, and therefore hath need of wings to lift him up.
c. intr. In Golf and Tennis. (See quots. 1975, 1977.)
1910Encycl. Brit. XII. 223/2 Press, to strive to hit harder than you can hit with accuracy. 1922Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert vi. 132 Keep the head still..don't press. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 423/1 To ‘press’ is to try to hit the ball too hard, usually with a resultant mis-hit. 1977Tennis World Sept. 17/2 ‘Pressing’ is trying too hard: a player is said to be pressing if his shots are over-eager or impatient.
3. trans. To extract by pressure; to express; to squeeze (juice, etc.) out of or from something.
1388Wyclif Gen. xl. 11 Therfor Y took the grapis, and presside [c 1430–40 MSS. I. & S. presside hem] out in to the cuppe which Y helde. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 49 Sethe hom in water..; Þen take hom up; presse a non Þe water of hom. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 246 b, This..shall presse out teares of our eyes. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 412 To gather Laurel-berries, and the Spoil Of bloody Myrtles, and to press your Oyl. 1744Berkeley Siris §212 Wine is pressed from the grape. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 13 It is very probable, that it was much the same word as is used..in Gen. ix. 21, viz. [yyn] from [ynh] to press out.
4. a. To subject to pressure so as to reduce to a particular shape, consistence, smoothness, thinness, or bulk, or so as to extract juice, etc. from; to compress, squeeze. spec. to smooth or flatten (fabric or clothes) with an iron or clothes press. Also with out.
c1430–40[see prec., quot. 1388]. 1549Act 3 & 4 Edw. VI, c. 2 §8 That no person shall..put to sale here within the Realme..any cloth being pressed to be..worne here within the Realme of England. 1555Eden Decades 3 They neuer eate Iucca excepte it be first sliced & pressed. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 137 He hath turnd his typpet and prest it so close, That for a turnd typpet it hath a fayre glose. 1659J. Leak Waterwks. 1 The Aire may be prest, but not the Water. 1715Desaguliers Fires Impr. 45 You have always more dense Air in the Room, it being more press'd. 1764Harmer Observ. x. iv. 155 Into these they put the curds, and binding them up close, press them. 1796H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 339 Press them as long as there is any milk in the almonds. 1844G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 106 ‘Pressing’ it [cloth] between hot iron plates and smooth millboard. 1901A. H. Rice Mrs. Wiggs of Cabbage Patch vi. 92 She pressed out Asia's best dress. 1908M. E. Morgan How to dress Doll viii. 67 Sew the tucks firmly, then press them open. a1911D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox (1917) I. iii. 37 I'm going to wear my white dress with embroidery, and it's got to be pressed. 1928A. Christie Mystery of Blue Train xxiv. 195 He found the imperturbable George pressing trousers. 1949D. Smith I capture Castle xiv. 257 Your frock's quite a bit creased, miss... I could press it, if you like. 1957C. MacInnes City of Spades i. ix. 68 At one time I pressed suits by day and worked in the Post Office by night. 1976C. Dexter Last seen Wearing xvi. 123 The little woman at home cooking a meal for you and probably pressing your pants or something.
b. To dry and flatten (leaves, flowers, etc.) in order to preserve them.
1785T. Martyn tr. Rousseau's Lett. Elements Bot. viii. 82 Your pile of plants and papers thus arranged, must be put into the press, without which your plants will not be flat and even; some are for pressing them more, others less. 1840C. Fox Jrnl. 22 Mar. in Memories Old Friends (1882) vi. 75 Clara has been collecting flowers, and they have been together pressing many of them. 1930R. Macaulay Staying with Relations ii. 20 ‘You see, I press... Do you enjoy pressing, Catherine?’ ‘Flowers, she means,’ Benet explained. ‘Isie likes to keep her verbs intransitive.’ 1974W. C. Cartner Fun with Botany 23 Plant specimens can be pressed and dried for further study... Lay out the fresh specimens between sheets of newspaper, and press the sandwich between two boards.
c. To make (a gramophone record), to record (a song, etc.). colloq.
1918[see matrix 4 c]. 1929Wilson & Webb Mod. Gramophones xi. 253 The stampers which press records have to be kept at a certain temperature in order that the record material will flow properly. 1954W. W. Johnson Gramophone Bk. 55 By 1929 one record manufacturer alone was pressing records at the rate of a million a week. 1968P. Oliver Screening Blues 5 In the ensuing months more stores carried Race records, specially pressed for the Negro market. 1976Sunday Times 21 Mar. 58/3 Island is coy about how many albums it is pressing.
†5. To print: = impress v.1 4. Obs. or arch.
1579Fulke Confut. Sanders 691 Howe proue you that this picture was pressed when that leafe came to correction? 1637Laud Relat. Confer. Ep. Ded. (1639) A iij b, The Discourse upon this Conference stayed so long, before it could endure to be pressed. 1857T. H. Warren By Severn Sea 32 He who pressed, He who bound.
II. Figurative senses, denoting actions compared to physical pressure. Usually trans.
6. a. trans. (fig. of 1.) Of an enemy, an attacking force, etc.: To bear heavily on, to assail with much force; to reduce to straits; to beset, harass. Now chiefly in hard pressed.
1375Barbour Bruce x. 316 [He] presyt the folk that thar-in ves, Swa that nocht ane the ȝet durst pas. c1400Destr. Troy 8606 Polidamas, the pert, was presset so fast, Þat he was wonen in wer, & away led. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 353 The horsemen pressed him before, and the fotemen gaue the onset at his back. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 101 All of them being pressed with Dogs or other wilde Beasts, will fly unto a man for succour. 1686tr. Chardin's Coronat. Solyman 94 The Generalissimo ceas'd not to press the Armenians. 1693Mem. Cnt. Teckely ii. 153 The Place was pressed with vigour enough till the 11th of September. 1769Robertson Chas. V, iv. Wks. 1813 V. 405 The castle of Milan was pressed more closely than ever. 1893W. Forbes-Mitchell Remin. Gt. Mutiny 23 Although hard pressed at first, the force eventually gained a..victory.
†b. Of a tyrant, adverse circumstances, etc.: To oppress; to crush, reduce to distress or misery; to load or burden with impositions or restrictions; to distress, afflict. Obs.
c1400Destr. Troy 5093 Non proffer, apon payne, to prese hym no more. c1425Wyntoun Cron. i. 1663 (Cotton MS.) Na man sulde swa hardy be Hym to presse, to tak or sla. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 202 Chrisogonus here that moste can doe, will presse vs with his power. 1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iii. xiii. 95 Yet are they pressed wyth a more grieuous tribute. 1609Bible (Douay) Hist. Table II. 1079 The children of Israel were pressed with servitude in ægypt. 1633P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. xix, So when a tyrant raves, his subjects pressing, His gaining is their losse. 1720Ozell Vertot's Rom. Rep. II. x. 153 The People, press'd by Hunger, called loudly for Bread. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §102, I should not be able to..get out when there pressed with danger.
c. To affect with a feeling (physical or mental) of pressure, constraint, or distress; to weigh down, burden, oppress (the feelings, mind, spirits, etc.).
1604Shakes. Oth. iii. iv. 177, I haue this while with leaden thoughts beene prest. 1656Ridgley Pract. Physic 259 When he ascends a steep place, he is pressed with an unusual difficulty of breathing. 1695Prior Ode Queen's Death vi, If prest by Grief our Monarch stoops. 1738Wesley Ps. lxxxviii. i, These horrid Clouds that press my frighted Soul.
†d. Of a difficulty or the like: = beset v. 3 b.
1654Jer. Taylor Real Pres. 35 On the other side no inconvenience can presse our interpretation of ‘spiritual eating Christ by faith’. 1662Stillingfl. Orig. Sacr. iii. i. §8 The Atheist in denying a Deity, must assert something else instead of it, which is pressed with the same, if not greater difficulties, and proved by far less reason.
e. To put to straits, as by want of time, space, means, etc.: in passive, usually with for. (Cf. 8 b.)
1678Hickes in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. IV. 47, I..am very sensible how much you press yourself to keep correspondence with me. 1813Macaulay in Life & Lett. (1880) I. 42 Being pressed for room, I will conclude. 1817Cobbett Wks. XXXII. 354 In writing the last Number I was pressed for time. 1845Disraeli Sybil iii. iii, I am pressed for business, but I will wait and watch over him till the crisis is passed. 1861Craik Hist. Eng. Lit. I. 89 He had felt continually pressed by the necessity of economising his paper or parchment. 1866G. A. Lawrence Sans Merci xiv, You can have money sooner, if you are much pressed for it.
7. intr. To produce a strong mental or moral impression upon; in mod. use usually (fig. from 1 d), to bear heavily, weigh upon (the mind, etc.).
1561T. Norton tr. Calvin's Inst. i. 5 Least they shoulde in al thinges seme to despise him, whoes maiestie still presseth vpon them. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xvii. 144 The reflection that he had wasted his time..pressed upon his mind. 1838–9F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 131 People in the South, pressed upon by northern opinion.
8. a. trans. To urge on, impel or try to impel to action; to constrain, compel, force.[The frequency of prese forms in 8, 9, 9 b, perh. indicates some association with the intr. senses in III.] α1390Gower Conf. I. 217 Sodeinly the jugge he nom..and hath him pressed, That he the sothe him hath confessed. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 184 Why should hee stay whom Loue doth presse to go? What loue could presse Lysander from my side? 1611Bible Acts xviii. 5 Paul was pressed in spirit, and testified to the Iewes, that Iesus was Christ. 1758J. S. Le Dran's Observ. Surg. (1771) 164 The Patient being pressed to go backwards, went behind the Tent. 1861May Const. Hist. (1863) I. i. 62 They [the Commons] could withhold the supplies, and press the king with representations against his ministers.
β1565Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 372 Thair Majesteis heirtofoir hes na wayis preissit ony personis in the fre use of thair conscience. 1580Ibid. III. 281 They have nevir persuadit nor preissit his Majestie to this hour. 1586J. Carmichael Let. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 444 Turn⁓cotes..if they were preasit, they wald be readie to cap, and cope, and surpleis. 1623Pr. Charles Let. in Athenæum 24 Feb. (1872) 241/2 Ye euer promised that the King [my] father should be no farder preaced in matters of religion. a1627Middleton Mayor of Quinborough i. (1661) 8 Great Constantine our Noble Father,..therefore prais'd me into this profession.
b. Said of danger, business, etc., or of time. Now only absol. or intr. To compel haste or dispatch; to be urgent; to be pressing; to demand immediate action. (Cf. 6 e.) So mod.F. le temps presse; le péril presse.
c1440York Myst. xl. 192 Here may we notte melle of more at þis tyde, For prossesse of plaies þat precis in plight. 1683Temple Mem. Wks. 1731 I. 396 The Prince wou'd have had me stay, but..I pretended some Letters press'd me, and so went away. 1746Col. Rec. Pennsylv. V. 44 Let it be done with Dispatch, for the time presses. 1823Scott Peveril xxviii, Do you think I will read all these?.. I mean, is there any thing which presses? Mod. Time presses: I must go.
c. To impel to rapid movement; to urge on, hasten, drive quickly. rare.
1611Bible Esther viii. 14 So the posts..went out, being hastened, and pressed on by the kings commandement. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xx. 198, I..pressed my dogs for the hut.
d. With the movement as obj.: To urge, hasten, execute quickly.
1742Collins Oriental Ecl. iv. 9 Fast as they prest their flight. 1821Scott Kenilw. xiii, Tressilian and his attendants pressed their route with all dispatch. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. 10/1 About 2,000 enemy troops had pressed an attack there since Tuesday against a U.S.-advised Vietnamese garrison of about the same size.
9. a. To urge by words or arguments; to try hard to persuade; to importune, beg, beseech, entreat (a person to do something or for something).
α1593Bilson Govt. Christ's Ch. 273 They be Ieromes owne words that I presse you with. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 425 You press mee farre, and therefore I will yeeld. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 23 Neither they nor any other would take the least reward of mee, though I pressed them to receiue it. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. Pref., More than Four hundred Queries..to which I was pressed for Answers. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. x. 409 He was much pressed to go into a neighbouring apartment. 1800De Quincey in ‘H. A. Page’ Life (1877) I. iii. 53 To avoid being pressed..to stay another day. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 15, I will share the enquiry with you, but I will not press you if you would rather not.
β1623Pr. Charles Let. in Athenæum 24 Feb. (1872) 241/2 Which the Pope so earnestlie preases to be added.
b. intr. or absol. To use urgent entreaty; to ask or seek importunately. Const. for or inf.; formerly also on, upon (a person).
β1401Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 33 Freer, what charity is this, to prease upon a rich man, and to intice him to be buried among you from his parish church? 1529More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 214/1 He was in his examinacion sore preaced vpon to tell for what intent he made such a sermon ready. a1699A. Halkett Autobiog. (1875) 43 As much as was fitt to prese for the reason.
αa1533Ld. Berners Huon clvi. 599 Kynge Arthur hath sore pressed on me to haue my dignyte & realme. 1648in Hamilton Papers (Camden) 220 My Lord Newcastle hes prest mouch for his dispach, and a comision for the North. 1709–10Addison Tatler No. 121 ⁋1 There was a Gentlewoman below who..pressed very much to see me. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. viii, And spread his vegetable store And gaily pressed, and smiled. 1833H. Martineau Manch. Strike ix, Don't press for an answer yet. 1895Lake in Law Times XCIX. 468/1, I applied for this on the 9th May, and pressed for it day by day.
10. trans. To urge, insist on the doing of (something); to solicit, request (a thing) earnestly. Const. on, upon (a person).
1625Burges Pers. Tithes 16 The Apostles peremptory commaund more then once pressed in the Gospel. 1673Essex Papers (Camden) I. 93 The discontented part of y⊇ Citty press, that y⊇ Election last mentiond may be confirm'd. 1710Prideaux Orig. Tithes iii. 143 note, St. Ambrose very earnestly presseth the payment of Tithes. a1716Bp. O. Blackall Wks. (1723) I. 294, I suppose, it was not press'd upon such, by the Apostles, as a Duty. a1770Jortin Serm. (1771) I. iv. 65 Such a person might earnestly press the observance of a duty which himself had so well fulfilled. 1834Tracts for Times No. 40. 2 This material part of piety..had not been sufficiently pressed on my people. 1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 591 Nothing now remained but to press the use of anti-pneumococcic serum.
11. To urge, insist on the belief, admission, or mental acceptance of (something); to impress (a thing) upon the mind, emphasize, inculcate earnestly; to present earnestly, plead with insistence (a claim, etc.). Const. on, upon (a person, his attention, etc.).
1625Burges Pers. Tithes 35 It must be pressed..vpon the Magistrate, that he is bound in Conscience to pull down all Churches, once superstitiously prostituted to Popish Idolatry. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. ix. 303 The Apostle presseth this advice in the text. 1781Cowper Conversation 104 Remember, if you mean to please, To press your point with modesty and ease. 1836J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. vi. (1852) 174 Thus are we brought again to the conclusion already pressed upon attention. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 379 Crito is but pressing upon him the opinions of the many. 1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. §664. 129 Letters..in which he..presses on the potentates of east and west the great opportunity for ecclesiastical union.
12. To urge, thrust (something to be taken or accepted) upon a person.
1797Mrs. Radcliffe Italian i, He pressed the offer so repeatedly and respectfully that at length she accepted it. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 285 note, He..refused the first ecclesiastic dignities, which were unsolicitedly pressed upon him. 1879M. Pattison Milton v. 63 The garden-house in Aldersgate-street had before been found too small for the pupils who were being now pressed upon Milton.
13. To push forward (arguments, views, considerations, positions, etc.).
1665Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 355 Nor am I willing to press these conjectures any further. 1766Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767) I. i. 17, I press not any farther an argument so exceedingly plain. 1856Froude Hist. Eng. I. ii. 130 Charles had no desire to press matters to extremities. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. I. x. 320 Stephen pressed his advantage.
III. Senses connected with the notion of a crowd or throng, or of pushing one's way as in a throng: cf. press n.1 1. Primarily intr. Here the β forms are usually the earlier, and predominate till c 1600.
As L. premĕre and pressāre and OF. presser were only transitive, the intransitive use appears to have been developed in Eng., and perh. in connexion with the notion of pressing or crowding upon each other.
14. a. intr. To come closely to or about a person or place; esp. of a number of persons: to come up or gather in a crowd; to crowd, throng. Also fig.
β13..Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 830 Mony proud mon þer presed, þat prynce to honour. 13..Cursor M. 2796 (Gött.) Þe mare þat loth [= Lot] þaim [þus] bisoght, Þe mare þai presid [Trin. pressed] and sesid noght. c1440Bone Flor. 1082 They presyd abowte syr Sampson all. 1526Tindale Luke vi. 19 All the people preased to touche hym. 1559Mirr. Mag., Worcester xvii, I could not passe, so sore they on me preast. 1569T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. i. xxxii. 38 Commanding them to prease and talke with the Captaynes. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. i. 19 No humble suters prease to speake for right. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 175 By reason of the multitude preasing up to him.
αc1400Song Roland 635 Ingler, and arnold, of the peres, I say, Pressen to the prince in þer palle wedis. c1400Destr. Troy 8227 Then the grekes.. Oppressit hom with pyne, pressit full hard. 1642H. More Song Soul ii. i. ii. lvii, The crosse lines of a Rhomboides That from their meeting to all angles presse. 1648in Hamilton Papers (Camden) 210 The enemy presseth harde upon us. 1776Gibbon Decl. & F. xii. (1869) I. 341 The nations of Germany, who perpetually pressed on the frontiers of the empire. 1833H. Martineau Manch. Strike ix, The most thinking men in the crowd pressed towards the waggon. 1876C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 106 Consisting..of ‘thoughts that had been pressing in upon his own soul’. 1881Henty Cornet of Horse xxvi, All the sailors pressed up, eager to know how the pursuit had been shaken off.
b. trans. To crowd upon, throng. Obs. or arch.
1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. cxlii. 7 When thou art good to me, the just shall prease me round about. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) Luke viii. 45 Maister, the multitudes throng and presse thee [Vulg. te comprimunt et affligunt; Wyclif 1382 thringen and turmentyn thee, 1388 thristen and disesen thee; Tindale, etc. thruste the and vexe the; Geneva, thrust thee and treade on thee; 1611 throng thee and preasse thee; Revised, press thee and crush thee]. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. lvi. iv, They presse me neere, my soule in snare to take.
c. Naut. to press sail = to crowd sail: see crowd v.1 9, and cf. press of sail, press n.1 10.
1860Merc. Marine Mag. VII. 98 Press on sail, to see if you can come in.
15. a. intr. To push or strain forward, as through a crowd or against obstacles or hindrances; to push one's way, advance with force or eagerness; to hasten onward, urge one's way. Also with on (and as adj. phr.). Freq. fig. and in colloq. phr. to press on regardless, to persevere despite the dangers or difficulties (see regardless a. 1 c).
βc1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 112 After þis fest praised Steuen with alle his here, Þe castellis he seised, þat he hat neuer ere. c1330― Chron. Wace (Rolls) 13811 Among þe moste euere he presed, His harde strokes nought ne sesed. c1385Chaucer L.G.W. 642 (Cleopatra) In with the polax presith he & sche. c1400Destr. Troy 5138 So þai past fro þat pales, preset vnto horse. 1526Tindale Phil. iii. 14, I forget that which is behynde me..and preace vnto the marke apoynted. a1599Spenser F.Q. vii. vi. 13 The Giantesse.., boldly preacing-on raught forth her hand. 1603Florio Montaigne ii. x. (1632) 226 Sometimes they prease out thicke and threefold. 1621R. Brathwait Nat. Embassie, etc. (1877) 257 Two iollie shepheards, that do hither prese.
αc1400Destr. Troy 2156 And þus pertid þe persons & presset to þere ynnes. c1407Lydg. Reson & Sens. 5129 Ay the more I gan to presse The more my Ioy[e] gan tencresse. 14..in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 158 Efthyr them full fast I prest. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 49 Vnto no mess pressit this prelat, For sound of sacring bell nor skellat. 1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 136 So made way for their fellowes without, which immediately pressed in with a strong power. 1660Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. xvii. 110 Air would..press in at some little Avenue or other. 1738Wesley Ps. lxxxix. iv, With Reverence and religious Dread His Servants to his House should press. 1810Scott Lady of L. iii. xiv, Pressing forward like the wind. 1870Bryant Iliad I. v. 138 Trojans, great in mastery of steeds, Press on! 1916Joyce Portrait of Artist (1969) v. 243 And why were you shocked, Cranley pressed on in the same tone, if you feel sure that our religion is false and that Jesus was not the son of God? 1921G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah v. 266. After passing a million goals they press on to the goal of redemption from the flesh. 1930Flight 23 Oct. 1177/2 Lord Thomson and his gallant crew would still have said press on, instead of crying halt, in airship development. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 147 Press on, regardless—or merely press on, to act keenly, to be efficiently busy. Hence, press-on type, an almost too keen person—applied mostly to ‘operational types’. They press on, regardless of fog, flak, fighter opposition. 1950G. Hackforth-Jones Worst Enemy iii. 212 Action was needed to stem this tide of defeatism. Head down was the way to progress through the blizzard. ‘When in doubt, press on.’ A good motto that. 1952M. Tripp Faith is Windsock xiv. 209 The Vicar was laudatory: ‘A magnificent press-on effort, old chap.’ 1958Times 18 Dec. 11/4 A few colourful wartime metaphors survive... A third and uncouth example, to press on regardless, stands for a dashing and stoical, if disillusioned, perseverance which continues to find a place in life today just as it did in the early days of the war. 1959Listener 5 Mar. 428/2 While the scientists press on regardless, the humanists go on worrying. 1960Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Mar. 182/1 What vitality the man must have had! And it is this vitality which Mr. Coulter's press-on-regardless manner succeeds very well in conveying. 1961J. Dawson Ha-Ha i. 7 The other students..used to wave as they passed and cry: ‘How goes it?’ or ‘Press on regardless.’ 1968Listener 15 Aug. 203/2 That kind of Irishman—admirable rather than safe: the kind I'd heard junior RAF men in the war refer to as ‘a press-on type’. 1977Drive May–June 54/2 Covering 40 miles for every gallon of 4-star fuel (even press-on drivers could manage at least 35 mpg).
†b. refl. in same sense. Sc. Obs. rare.
c1425Wyntoun Cron. ii. 1310 Qwha wiþe in walde presse hym out, þan hym behuffit to mak entre. Ibid. vii. 2570 (Cotton MS.) Wiþe al þe kynge of Inglandis mycht He pressit hym [Wemyss MS. He schupe him] to þe cite richt.
16. a. intr. To push one's way, thrust oneself, advance into a person's presence, or into a place, boldly, presumptuously, or insistently; to approach venturously, to venture; to push oneself forward, obtrude oneself, intrude. arch.
β1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 212 Þere þe pore preseth bifor þe riche with a pakke at his rugge. c1394P. Pl. Crede 749 So of þat beggers brol a bychop schal worþen, Among þe peres of þe lond prese to sitten. c1460Urbanitatis 25 in Babees Bk. 13 Amonge þe genteles gode & hende, Prece þou not vp to hyȝ for no þyng. 1535Coverdale Prov. xxv. 6 Prease not in to y⊇ place of greate men. ― Ecclus. xiii. 10 Preasse not thou vnto him, that thou be not shott out. 1587Turberv. Trag. T. (1837) 14 The peevishe puttocke may not preace in place where Eagles are. 1606J. Carpenter Solomon's Solace viii. 32 Forbidden to prease forth to do the priests office. 1615Chapman Odyss. iv. 663 Men's knowledges have proper limits set, And should not prease into the mind of God.
α1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xvii. 55 There þe poure presseþ by-fore with a pak at hus rygge. 1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 76, I will not here presume to presse in with my determination upon this great difference and question. 1607Dekker & Webster Hist. Sir T. Wyatt D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 88 Pardon me Madam, that so boldly I presse into your Chamber. 1714Swift Imit. Horace ii. vi. 89 You ne'er consider whom you shove, But rudely press before a duke. 1885G. Macdonald Diary Old Soul 16 May, I would go near thee—but I cannot press Into thy presence—it helps not to presume.
†b. refl. To presume, take upon oneself. rare.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxv. 14 Me thocht Deme Fortoun..said on this maneir..preiss the nocht to stryfe aganis my quheill. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) I. 4 And preis the nocht my purpois till impung.
†17. intr. To strive, try hard, endeavour, attempt to do something (usually with eagerness or haste); to aim at, strive or endeavour after something. Also in weaker sense: To essay, undertake, take in hand. Obs. (So F. presser in Froissart (Godef.).)
βc1374Chaucer Troylus i. 446 To seen here goodly look be gan to prese [rimes encrese, cece]. c1380Wyclif Wks. (1880) 166 Ȝonge childre presen faste to be prestis. c1475Rauf Coilȝear 615 To cum to this Palice he preissis to preif. 1513Douglas æneis x. xi. 193 Athir way till assay thrys preisyt hes he. 1578T. Proctor Gorg. Gallery, Lament. Gentilw., With Poets pen, I doo not preace to write. 1586J. Carmichael Let. in Wodrow Soc. Misc. (1844) 442 To..prease..to wesh ane Indiane or black-more, whom al the watir in the sea can never mak quhite. a1598Peele David & Bethsabe Prol., Of this sweet poet, Jove's musician..I prease to sing. 1637–50Row Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.) 24 The Kirk in this mean tyme preassing to keep their Assemblies, but got little good done. 1642Rogers Naaman Ep. Ded. 2 We had now need to prease upon more familiar acquaintance with God.
α1375Barbour Bruce (MS. 1487) xviii. 105 And thai that pressit mast to stand War slane doune. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 79 Thai movit bataill and weris, pressand quha mycht be lord. a1500Ratis Raving i. 337 Bot that þow pres to do, my sone, Rycht as þow wald to the war done. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xi. 4 Lang heir to dwell na thing thow press. 1632Lithgow Trav. iii. 100 They had..sworne, if I pressed to escape, before the rest.., they would throw me..into the sea. 1811J. Love Let. 29 Oct. (1840) 349 To press after attaining and communicating to others more of the beginnings and pledges of that glorious life which now we view at a distance.
18. intr. To strive, contend, make resistance. rare. (Now only as fig. from 1 d.)
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints ii. (Paulus) 543 Saule, saule,..is it nocht hard to þe agane þe brod þu for to prese? 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 19 Ne I against the same can iustly preace [rimes peace, release]. 1872Morley Voltaire i. (1886) 3 Human nature, happily for us, presses ever against this system or that.
For the verb-stem in Comb., see press n.1 16 b.[Note. The β forms prês-en, prêse, prease, preace, agree in their lengthened vowel with cease, lease, decease, compared with F. cesser, lesser, and ME. decesse; but while in the latter the long-vowel form alone survives (in the simple word), here press is the surviving form, prease, preace, scarcely appearing in literary Eng. after 1650, though still used in north. Eng. dialects from the Scottish border to Lancashire and Yorkshire, written preese, prease, preeze, preaze |priːz|. This English lengthening of French short e before ss and st (cf. beast, feast) has not been satisfactorily explained; it is discussed (with other lengthenings) by Morsbach in Festschrift für Wendelin Foerster (1902) 327. The fact that OF. presse, cesse, beste, feste, were in Picard priesse, ciesse, bieste, fieste, has suggested that double ME. forms such as presse, prēse, might come from two French dialects, priesse, ciesse, giving prêse, cêse, as piece gave ME. pēce; but the e of prese, prease, seems to be the open ê, not the close ē as in pēce.] ▪ V. press, v.2|prɛs|
pa. tense and pple. pressed; also 6–8 prest.
[Altered from or substituted for prest v.2, by association with press v.1: see press-money.
This result may have been facilitated by the fact that the pa. tense and pa. pple. prest could be the pa. tense and pple. either of prest v. (cf. cast, cost, thrust), or of press v. (cf. drest, past, tost), so that ‘he was prest’ could be understood either as ‘he was prested’ or ‘he was pressed’.]
†1. trans. To engage (men) with earnest-money for service; to enlist by part-payment or ‘bounty’ in advance; = prest v.2 1. Obs.
1600Holland Livy xxvi. xxxv. 610 When the Consuls could neither raise men enow, nor yet find monie..for to presse and hire them, and pay their wages withall.
2. a. To force (a man) to serve in the army or navy; = impress v.2, prest v.2 2, with further development of the sense of compulsion.
(Quots. 1543 and 1568, from their early date, may belong to prest v.2, prest being a shortened form of prested, as in cast, thrust, etc.)
[1543Becon Policy of War Pref., Wks. 1564 I. 125 b, The men, which wer prest to go vnto the warres, it is almost incredible..what alacryte & quickenes of spirite was in them. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 25 Euery Souldiour there prest should pay ten shillynges, and thereupon to be discharged from that voyage.] 1578Court Min. Grocers' Comp. 11 Aug., 15 men which were pressed by this Company to serue in the Quenes Mati⊇s shipps. 1595Locrine ii. ii. D ij, O wife..if I had bene quiet, I had not bene prest... But come,..shut vp, for we must to the warres. 1600Fairfax Tasso xx. xvi, Men halfe naked, without strength or skill.., Late pressed foorth to warre, against their will. 1627–77Feltham Resolves i. xlvii. 74 Like Sons prest from an indulgent Father, they would come for a sad Vale. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 681 The peaceful Peasant to the Wars is prest; The Fields lye fallow in inglorious Rest. 1708S. Centlivre Busie Body ii. ii, Let me catch you no more Puppy-hunting about my doors, lest I have you prest into the Service, Sirrah. 1745Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 512 The Constables and Churchwardens came to press you for a soldier. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xvi. viii, To contrive some method of having him [Jones] pressed and sent on board a ship. 1833Marryat P. Simple xvi, He replied that he had been pressed out of an American ship, that he was an American born, and that he had never taken the bounty. 1874Green Short Hist. viii. §3. 485 Poor men who refused to lend were pressed into the army.
b. intr. or absol.
a1625Fletcher Hum. Lieut. ii. iv, Come get your men together..And presse where please you as you march. 1678Marvell Growth Popery 43 The King is fain to press now. 1819Crabbe T. of Hall v. 174 Gangs came pressing till they swept the shore. 1901Ld. Raglan in Westm. Gaz. 22 May 2/3 We pressed for the Navy until a time remembered by many present; we pressed for the Army until a much more recent period.
c. trans. To take authoritatively for royal or public use; = impress v.2 b.
1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. xxiv. (1821) 450 To presse and take up any the Boats, or Vessels that are or shall bee within the compasse of your command. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 178 Saturday after noon the Cachef of Catie pressed our Camels to fetch wood from the Sea⁓side. 1698Crowne Caligula i. Wks. 1874 IV. 369 And all the horses, in, or near the town, You press'd, to bring th' imperial treasure home. 1813Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1839) X. 393 He was not authorised to press boats, yet he pressed at the British landing place boats which had been in our service two years. 1907C. B. Winchester in Let. to Editor, In British India to this day every executive officer when he moves camp ‘presses carts’ to obtain means for transporting his tents.
d. transf. and fig. To seize and force into some service; = impress v.2 c. Also in phr. to press into service.
1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. ii, Would we were eene prest, to make porters of; and serue out the remnant of our daies, in Thames-street. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. ii. i. (1651) 450 They press and muster up wenches as we do souldiers. 1733Pope Ess. Man iii. 86 Reason..but serves when prest,..But honest Instinct comes a volunteer. 1824Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Capt. Jackson, The anecdote was pressed into the account of the family importance. 1871Freeman Hist. Ess. Ser. i. iv. 85 In Thierry's well-known History..he is pressed into the service of that writer's peculiar theories. 1883Gilmour Mongols xxvii. 322 The ‘shirt’ aforementioned..is pressed to do duty as a towel. 1926Discovery June 191/2 Bait, such as a meal-worm, may be pressed into service [by the bird-photographer] to entice a bird on to some particular twig. 1935Yachting Dec. 82/3 Press into service, a reminiscence of the press-gangs which caused the War of 1812 by stopping American merchantmen on the high seas and ‘pressing’ members of their crews into service in the British navy. 1961New Eng. Bible Mark xv. 21 Simon, from Cyrene,..was passing by..and they pressed him into service to carry his cross. 1978K. J. Dover Greek Homosexuality ii. 97 They masturbate constantly..if no living being with a suitable orifice is available, but prefer horses, mules, or deer..; even the neck of a jar may be pressed into service.
Hence ˈpressing vbl. n., impressment; also attrib.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Maherimiento, pressing of soldiers, delectus. 1640Pym in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 23 But now there follows Pressing of men against their Wills, or to find others. 1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xxiv, I was disarmed, taken prisoner, and carried on board a pressing-tender. 1761Hume Hist. Eng. II. App. iii. 510 The power of pressing both for sea and land service..was another prerogative. 1809J. Adams Wks. (1854) IX. 327 A few words more on the subject of pressing.
▪ VI. press
(of parchment): see prest n.2 |