Press /(?)/

1. An East Indian insectivore (Tupaia ferruginea). It is arboreal in its habits, and has a bushy tail. The fur is soft, and varies from rusty red to maroon and to brownish black. (Zool.)

1. To force into service, particularly into naval service; to impress.

   To peaceful peasant to the wars is pressed.

1. A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.

   I have misused the king's press.

imp. & p. p. Pressed; p. pr. & vb. n. Pressing

1. To urge, or act upon, with force, as weight; to act upon by pushing or thrusting, in distinction from pulling; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to bear upon; to squeeze; to compress; as, we press the ground with the feet when we walk; we press the couch on which we repose; we press substances with the hands, fingers, or arms; we are pressed in a crowd.

   Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together.

2. To squeeze, in order to extract the juice or contents of; to squeeze out, or express, from something.

   From sweet kernels pressed, She tempers dulcet creams.

   And I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

3. To squeeze in or with suitable instruments or apparatus, in order to compact, make dense, or smooth; as, to press cotton bales, paper, etc.; to smooth by ironing; as, to press clothes.
4. To embrace closely; to hug.

   Leucothoe shook at these alarms, And pressed Palemon closer in her arms.

5. To oppress; to bear hard upon.

   Press not a falling man too far.

6. To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or hunger.
7. To exercise very powerful or irresistible influence upon or over; to constrain; to force; to compel.

   Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.

8. To try to force (something upon some one); to urge or inculcate with earnestness or importunity; to enforce; as, to press divine truth on an audience.

   He pressed a letter upon me within this hour.

   Be sure to press upon him every motive.

9. To drive with violence; to hurry; to urge on; to ply hard; as, to press a horse in a race.

   The posts . . . went cut, being hastened and pressed on, by the king's commandment.

1. To exert pressure; to bear heavily; to push, crowd, or urge with steady force.
2. To move on with urging and crowding; to make one's way with violence or effort; to bear onward forcibly; to crowd; to throng; to encroach.

   They pressed upon him for to touch him.

3. To urge with vehemence or importunity; to exert a strong or compelling influence; as, an argument presses upon the judgment.

1. An apparatus or machine by which any substance or body is pressed, squeezed, stamped, or shaped, or by which an impression of a body is taken; sometimes, the place or building containing a press or presses.
2. Specifically, a printing press.
3. The art or business of printing and publishing; hence, printed publications, taken collectively, more especially newspapers or the persons employed in writing for them; as, a free press is a blessing, a licentious press is a curse.
4. An upright case or closet for the safe keeping of articles; as, a clothes press.
5. The act of pressing or thronging forward.

   In their throng and press to that last hold.

6. Urgent demands of business or affairs; urgency; as, a press of engagements.
7. A multitude of individuals crowded together; crowd of single things; a throng.

   They could not come nigh unto him for the press.