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. --Mark iii.
10.
3. To urge with vehemence or importunity; to exert a strong
or compelling influence; as, an argument presses upon the
judgment.
Note: Presses are differently constructed for various
purposes in the arts, their specific uses being
commonly designated; as, a cotton press, a wine press,
a cider press, a copying press, etc. See {Drill press}.
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.
Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together.
--Luke vi. 38.
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. --Milton.
And I took the grapes, and pressed them into
Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's
hand. --Gen. xl. 11.
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. --Pope.
5. To oppress; to bear hard upon.
Press not a falling man too far. --Shak.
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. --Acts xviii.
5.
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.
--Dryden.
Be sure to press upon him every motive. --Addison.
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. --Esther viii.
14.
Note: Press differs from drive and strike in usually denoting
a slow or continued application of force; whereas drive
and strike denote a sudden impulse of force.
{Pressed brick}. See under {Brick}.
To peaceful peasant to the wars is pressed. --Dryden.
I have misused the king's press. --Shak.
{Press gang}, or {Pressgang}, a detachment of seamen under
the command of an officer empowered to force men into the
naval service. See {Impress gang}, under {Impress}.
{Press money}, money paid to a man enlisted into public
service. See {Prest money}, under {Prest}, a.