press 
6f. To weigh upon ; oppress ; trouble. 
A (treat and potent nobility . . . putteth life and spirit 
luto the people, but presseth their fortune. 
Itanm, Nobility (ed. 1887). 
lie somewhat presse 
Thy Irreligious minde. 
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. . 
He turns from us ; 
Alas, he weeps too ! something presses him 
He would reveal, but dare not. Sir, be comforted. 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, I. 2. 
7. To constrain or force to a certain end or re- 
sult; urge strongly; impel. 
Why should he stay, whom lore doth press to go ? 
Shale., M. N. D., lit. 2. 184. 
The two gentlemen who conducted me to the Inland 
were prated by their private affairs to return in three 
days. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, 111. 8. 
8. To hasten; bring to pass or execute has- 
tily. 
The posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, 
being hastened and pressed on by the king's command- 
ment. Esther vlii. 14. 
You have Excess of Gallantry, Sir Rowland, and press 
Things to a Conclusion with a most prevailing Vehe- 
mence. Congreve, Way of the World, Iv. 12. 
Tressilian and his attendants pressed their route with 
all dispatch. Scott, Kenilworth, xlil. 
9. To urge ; beseech ; entreat. 
You press me far, and therefore I will yield. 
Shot., M. of V., iv. 1. 425. 
God heard their prayers, wherein they earnestly pressed 
him for the honor of his great name. 
Winthnp, Hist New England, II. 35. 
And Lancelot ever prest upon the maid 
That she should ask some goodly gift of him 
For her own self or hers, 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
10. To seek earnestly ; make request for; so- 
licit. 
It hath been earnestly pressed to have her go to Virginia 
for Mr. Maverick and his corn. 
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 465. 
Take heed what you press, 
For beyond all Redress, 
Should 1 grant what you wish, I shall harm ye. 
Congreve, Semelc, lit 4. 
11. To thrust upon others; enforce; impose. 
Not to tolerate things meerly indifferent to weak con- 
sciences argues a conscience too strong ; prftwtd unifor- 
mity in these causes much disunity. 
JV. Ward, Simple Cooler, p. ft. 
Look at the Judge now ! He is apparently conscious of 
having erred, In too energetically pressing his deeds of 
loving-kindness on persons unable to appreciate them. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viil. 
He will not prem the Statutes of Uses and Wills If they 
will agree that lie shall forbid the payment of annates. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist, p. 256. 
12. To inculcate; impress upon the mind; 
urge as a doctrine, trutn, fact, or rule of con- 
duct. 
That which they pressed was not notion, but experi- 
ence ; not formality, but godliness. 
/'oin. Rise and Progress of Quakers, ii. 
(This) question did draw forth my heart to preach and 
presse the promise of pardon to all that were weary and 
sick of sinne. 
T. Shepard, Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, p. 36. 
13. To lay stress upon; attach special impor- 
tance to ; emphasize. 
If 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 leam what ought to 
be pressed and what not 
H. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, Pref. 
14. To throng ; fill with a crowd or press. 
Where now the throng. 
That press'd the beach, and, hasty to depart, 
Look d to the sea for safety? Coirper, Task, II. 118. 
15t. To print. 
The discourse upon this conference . . . staid long be- 
fore it could endure to be pressed. 
Laud, In Heylin, p. 121. (Danes.) 
Pressed brick, fuel, glass, loop, oil, etc. See the 
nouns. Pressing to death. See peine .forte et dare, un- 
der print?, and quotation from Lecky, under def. 1 above. 
To press sail. Same as to crowd sail (which see, un- 
der croirrfi). 
II. intrants. 1. To exert pressure or weight ; 
specifically, to bear heavily. 
Sometimes they swell and more, 
Pressing up against the land, 
With motions of the outer sea, 
Tennyson, Eleanore. 
A solid presses downwards only, but a fluid presses equal- 
ly in all directions, upwards as well as downwards. 
Huxley, Physiography, p. 88. 
2. To strain or strive eagerly; advance with 
eagerness or energetic efforts ; hasten. 
Thanne thoujt y to frayne the first of this foure ordirs, 
And presedt to the prechoures to proven here wflle. 
Piert Ploicman's Crede (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 154. 
4707 
Whan Dorilas and Maglsns thus hadde eche other oner- 
throwen, bothe partees pressed to the rescu. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), IL 244. 
The Invader presses on to the fight. 
Btatn, Political Fables, ix., Expl. 
I prem toward the mark for the prize of the high calling 
of God In Christ Jesus. Phil. 111. 14. 
How on the faltering footsteps of decay 
Youth presses. Bryant, Forest Hymn. 
3. To crowd ; throng. 
Many mazed considerings did throng 
JaiAprea'd in with this caution. 
Slink:, Hen. Mil., II. 4. 186. 
They prem in from all the provinces. 
And fill the hive. Tennyson, Princess, ii. 
4. To advance with force ; encroach. 
On superior powers 
Were we to press, Inferior might on ours. 
Pope, Essay on Man, I. 242. 
5. To approach unseasonably or importunate- 
ly; obtrude one's self. 
Amonge the gentries gode & hende, 
Prece thou not vp to hys for no thyng. 
Babees Boot (E. E. T. S.), p. 13. 
Pardon me, madam, that so boldly 
I /."- into your chamber. 
Deleter and Webster, Sir Thomas Wyatt. 
We need not fear to press into the farthest recesses of 
Christian antiquity, under any notion that we are prying 
into forbidden secrets. De Qvincey, Essenes, i. 
6t. To importune. 
This your seruant preaseth with surhe diligence for this 
letter that I shall be forced to aunswere more at large 
than I can, and much lease than I would. 
(Juemra, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 36. 
7. To exert pressure, as by influence or moral 
force. 
When arguments press equally in matters indifferent, 
the safest method is to give up ourselves to neither. 
. I dflimtn. 
tly upon ; in- 
To press upon, to act urgently or persistcu 
vade ; attack at close quarters. 
Patroclus presses upon Hector too boldly, anil by oblig- 
ing him to fight discovers it was not the true Achilles. 
Pope. 
press 1 (pres), H. [Early mod. E. also presac, 
prcxe, prcase, preare; < ME. pretae, prcse, prrn, 
prees, a throng, < OP. prtsne, a crowd, throng, 
etc., F. prcssc, a crowd, throng, urgency, a press 
(machine), a printing-press, the press (print- 
ing), etc., = Pr. Pg. It. prexsa = 8p. prfnm = 
OHG. prcxxa, MHO. G. presse = Sw. pra,is = 
Dan. pressc (after F.), press, etc. ; < ML.presw, 
pressing (violence), fein. of L. prcssits, pp. of 
premere, press: see prcl, f.] 1. The act of 
urging or pushing forward ; a crowding or 
thronging. 
In their throng and press to that last hold. 
Shat., K. John, v. 7. 19. 
On that superior height 
Who sits is disencumbered from the press 
Of near obstructions. Wordsworth. 
2. A crowd; throng; multitude. 
With mykull prese of pepull of prouynce abouto. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 2868. 
Greet prees at market maketh deere ware 
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, L 522. 
Cses. Who is it in the press that calls on me? . . . 
Can. Fellow, come from the throng ; look upon Caesar. 
Shak., 1. C., I. 2. 15. 
When didst thou thrust amid the mingled preace, 
Content to bide the war aloof in peace? 
Dryden, Iliad, L 338. 
That large-moulded man, 
His visage all agrin as at a wake, 
Made at me thro' the press. 
Tennyson, Princess, T. 
3f. Abundance; plenty. 
Pas to that prouyns, prese to the londe, 
And make puruiauncc plentie, while prese lastls. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5183. 
4f. Pressure ; the exertion of force ; compulsion. 
Without press or compelling any man, beating up his 
drums, |he] levied so sufficient an army that with it he con- 
quered all Spain. 
Eng. Stratagem ( Artier 's Eng. Garner, I. 608). 
6. A critical situation; a position of danger or 
embarrassment ; the state of being beset. 
In harde presst whan I was stedde, 
Of my paynes 36 hadde pitee. 
York Plays, p. 508. 
6. Urgency; urgent demands of affairs: as, 
press of business. 7. An instrument or ma- 
chine by which anything is subjected to pres- 
sure (especially if the pressure is great), as by 
the use of hand-levers, the screw, hydraulic 
agency, or steam-power. The object of the press 
may be to compress something into smaller compass, as 
a hay -press or cotton-press ; to crush something and ex- 
tract its juices, in which case it is named from the liquid 
produced, as a cider-press or wine-press ; or to take a copy 
of something, with or without the use of a pigment, as > 
printing-press, a copying-press, or a seal-press. 
press 
Which wine houses doe serve for pressing of their 
grapes, and the making of their wine, having all things 
necessary therein for that purpose, as I heir wine presses. 
Coryat, Crudities, I. 82. 
8. In the Jacquard loom, the mechanism which 
actuates the cylinder or prism and its cards 
to press back the needles or wires whicli are 
not to act, so as to disengage them from the 
lifting-bar. 9. Specifically, a machine for 
printing; a printing-press; hence, collective- 
ly, the agencies employed in producing printed 
matter. Some writers limit the use of the word press, as 
defining a printing-apparatus, to the hand printing-press, 
moved by hand-power, and call any form of printing-press 
moved by steam or otherwise, not by hand-power, a priiit- 
iny-machine. See printing-press. 
He will print them, out of doubt ; for he cares not what 
he puts into the press. Shak., M. W. of W., 11. 1. 80. 
Lord Dorset is nobody's favourite but yours and Mr. 
Prior's, who has lately dedicated his book of poems to him, 
which is all the press has furnished us of any value since 
you went. Sw\ft, Letter to Hunter, Jan. 12, 1708. 
10. The art of printing; hence, those who are 
engaged in printing or publishing. 
The liberty of the press Is Indeed essential to the nature 
of a free state ; but this consists in laying no previous re- 
straints upon publications, and not in freedom from cen- 
sure for criminal matter when published. 
Blackstoiu, Com., IV. xi. 
11. That which is printed; the sum total of 
printed literature : specifically applied to news- 
papers and other periodical publications. 
The press, an instrument neglected by the prosecutors, 
was used by Hastings and his friends with great effect. 
Macaulay, Warren Hastings. 
The press Is destined, more than any other agency, to 
melt and mold the Jarring and contending nations of the 
world into that one great brotherhood. 
S. Bowles, In Merriam's Bowles, I. 99. 
cupboard in which 
Press of \Valnut-wo<xl. I ,<:MII.III, 
] Mh century. ) 
12. An upright case or 
clothes, liooks, 
china, or other 
articles are 
kept ; specifical- 
ly, in libraries, 
a bookcase, or 
a set of book- 
shelves. 
His prfAse ycovered 
with a fuldyng 
reed. 
Chawrr, Miller's 
(Tale, I. 20. 
Large oakrn prm*- 
wflllcd with shelves 
of the same wood 
surrounded the 
room. Scott, Kenil- 
[worth, iv. 
13. In pliotog., 
same as print- 
ing-frame At press, during or in the process of print- 
ing. 
If the names were dropped at press, he could restore any 
speech In Shakespeare to the proper speaker. 
K. L. Stevenson, Some Gentlemen in Fiction. 
Autographic press, a small portable press for printing 
autographs from a lithographic stone or from an engraved 
plate. Bramah press, Bramah's press, the hydraulic 
press, so called from its inventor, Mr. Bramah. Sec hy- 
draulic. Cam-press, a press in which the rotation of 
a cam communicates action to the punch or shear, as dis- 
tinct from a screw-, lever-, or pcnduluiH-jfrexx. Card- 
press, (a) A small screw-press, used for keeping playing- 
cards flat when not in use. (6) A printing-press used for 
printing cards. Censorship Of the press. See censor- 
ship. Centripetal press, see centripetal. Compound 
press, a press in which the material is partially compress- 
ed by a light rapid movement, and the process completed 
by a more powerful and slower pressure. Correction of 
the press, corrector of the press. See correction, car- 
rector. Dry press, in printing, a press for smoothing 
printed sheets. Hat- tip press, a small hand-press used 
for printing the labels on the crown or inner lining of 
hats. Hunter's press, a press worked by Hunter's screw 
(which see, under screw). [Not now in use.] Hydraulic 
ur hydrostatic press. See hydraulic. In press, in the 
press, in process of being printed. Knee-joint press, 
a toggle-press. Liberty of the press. See liberty. 
Lithographic press. See lithographic. Lying-press, 
a small portable press of wood, used by bookbinders, in 
which pressure is given at the ends of two stout square 
blocks by two large wood-screws. When a cutting knife 
is attached, it is called a binders' plow and press. ttl- 
nerva Press. See Minerva. Napkin press, a screw- 
press by means of which napkins are pressed flat after 
being dampened. Such a press is sometimes combined 
with a decorative piece of furniture, etc. Open-back 
press, a press or punching-machine the standards of 
which are set apart to that the work to be punched can 
pasa freely from front to rear through the opening. Pen- 
dulum press. .**ee pendulum. Platen press. Keeplaten. 
Plow and press, in bookbinding, same as cutting- 
pret*, 2. Press-law, a law in restraint of the liberty 
of the press; a law regulating or repressing the right 
of printing and publiniiinfr. Press of sail (naut.\ as 
much sail as the state of tin- wind, etc., will permit. 
Revolving press, a form of baling-press in which the 
rotation of the box actuates the followers by means of a 
screw or screws working in stationary nuts. Rolling- 
cam press, a press actuated by a roller which revolves 
