Press

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /pɹɛs/
• Rhymes: -É›s

Middle English presse ("throng, crowd, clothespress"), partially from Old English press ("clothespress"), from Medieval Latin pressa, and partially from Old French presse (Modern French presse) from Old French presser ("to press"), from Latin pressāre from pressus, past participle of premere "to press". Displaced native Middle English thring ("press, crowd, throng") (from Old English þring ("a press, crowd, anything that presses or confines")).

Full definition of press

Noun

1. (countable) A device used to apply pressure to an item.
   a flower press
1. (countable) A printing machine.
   Stop the presses!
2. (uncountable) A collective term for the print-based media (both the people and the newspapers).
   This article appeared in the press.
   according to a member of the press
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 22, From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.
• 2013-08-10, Lexington, Keeping the mighty honest, British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.
3. (countable) A publisher.
4. (countable) (especially in Ireland and Scotland) An enclosed storage space (e.g. closet, cupboard).
   Put the cups in the press.
   Put the ironing in the linen press.
• 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher Chapter 1, But then I had the massive flintlock by me for protection. ¶...The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,....
5. (countable, weightlifting) An exercise in which weight is forced away from the body by extension of the arms or legs.
• 1974, Charles Gaines & George Butler, Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, page 22.This is the fourth set of benchpresses. There will be five more; then there will be five sets of presses on an inclined bench...
6. (countable, wagering) An additional bet in a golf match that duplicates an existing (usually losing) wager in value, but begins even at the time of the bet.
   He can even the match with a press.
7. (countable) Pure, unfermented grape juice.
   I would like some Concord press with my meal tonight.
8. A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.
• William Shakespeare (1564-1616)I have misused the king's press.

Synonyms

• (storage space) closet, cupboard, wardrobe (British)
• (printing machine) printing press

Derived terms

Middle English pressen ("to crowd, thring, press"), from Old French presser ("to press") (Modern French presser) from Latin pressāre from pressus, past participle of premere "to press". Displaced native Middle English thringen ("to press, crowd, throng") (from Old English þringan ("to press, crowd")), Middle English thrasten ("to press, force, urge") (from Old English þrǣstan ("to press, force")), Old English þryscan ("to press"), Old English þȳwan ("to press, impress").

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) to exert weight or force against, to act upon with with force or weight
2. (transitive) to compress, squeezeto press fruit for the purpose of extracting the juice
3. (transitive) to clasp, hold in an embrace; to hugShe took her son, and press'dThe illustrious infant to her fragrant breast (Dryden, Illiad, VI. 178.)
4. (transitive) to reduce to a particular shape or form by pressure, especially flatten or smoothto press cloth with an ironto press a hat
5. (transitive, sewing) To flatten a selected area of fabric using an iron with an up-and-down, not sliding, motion, so as to avoid disturbing adjacent areas.
6. (transitive) to drive or thrust by pressure, to force in a certain directionto press a crowd back
7. (transitive, obsolete) to weigh upon, oppress, troubleHe turns from us;Alas, he weeps too! Something presses himHe would reveal, but dare not.-Sir, be comforted. (Fletcher, Pilgrim, I. 2.)
8. (transitive) to force to a certain end or result; to urge strongly, impel
• Swift Gulliver|III|VIIIThe two gentlemen who conducted me to the island were pressed by their private affairs to return in three days.
9. To try to force (something upon someone); to urge or inculcate.to press the Bible on an audience
• DrydenHe pressed a letter upon me within this hour.
• AddisonBe sure to press upon him every motive.
10. (transitive) to hasten, urge onwardto press a horse in a race
11. (transitive) to urge, beseech, entreatGod heard their prayers, wherein they earnestly pressed him for the honor of his great name. (Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 35)
12. (transitive) to lay stress upon, emphasizeIf we read but a very little, we naturally want to press it all; if we read a great deal, we are willing not to press the whole of what we read, and we learn what ought to be pressed and what not. (M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, Pref.)
13. (ambitransitive) to throng, crowd
14. (transitive, obsolete) to print
15. To force into service, particularly into naval service.
• DrydenTo peaceful peasant to the wars is pressed.

Synonyms

• thrutch

Derived terms

• press charges
• press on

Anagrams

• RESPs