press
Pluralpresses (some meanings)
Verbpresses, pressing, pressed
Pluralpresses (some meanings)
Formspresses, pressing, pressed
- 1Newspapers and other news media, together with the journalists who work for them, taken as a group.
The press reported every detail of the trial.
She refused to speak to the press after the verdict.
UsageUsually the press: speak to the press, in the press, a member of the press.
Similarmedia
Note
W. B. Maxwell's The Mirror and the Lamp (1918) capitalizes it, listing "the Press, the Municipality, all the public men" side by side as civic powers.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- W. B. Maxwell wrote The Mirror and the Lamp. en.wiktionary.org
- The novel capitalizes Press and contains the quoted list of civic figures and institutions. en.wiktionary.org
- 2To push a button, key, or switch in order to operate a machine or device.
Press the power button to wake the screen.
He pressed each key firmly so the input would register.
UsageCommon in press the button, press a key, and press and hold when it must stay down.
Note
The keyboard and touchscreen verb names the push itself, whether brief or sustained; instructions add "and hold" when the key must stay down. Of its rivals, hit and strike suggest more force, and depress is the most technical.
- 3To push steadily and firmly against something, or to move it in a particular direction by pushing.
Press firmly on the lever to engage the brake.
Floodwater pressed against the dam throughout the night.
UsageWorks with or without an object: press the lever, or press on or press against something.
Similarpush
Note
The past is regularly pressed. Prest is an older spelling, and poets of Dryden's day wrote press'd.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Prest is an older spelling of pressed. gutenberg.org
- Poets in Dryden's time used the spelling press'd. rpo.library.utoronto.ca
- 4To compress or squeeze something.
Press the dough firmly to force out the air bubbles.
The machine presses grapes to extract their juice.
Similarsqueeze, squash, compress, squish, mash
Note
Squeezing to extract is the classic use: you press fruit for its juice, and unfermented grape juice made this way is occasionally called a press itself.
- 5A machine or device that exerts pressure on whatever is placed in it.
The bookbinder placed the pages under a press overnight.
He used a press to squeeze the oil from the seeds.
UsageOften after what it presses: a cheese press, a flower press, a garlic press.
- 6A company or organization that publishes books, journals, or other printed works.
An independent press picked up the manuscript no one else would touch.
Academic presses rely on peer review before accepting a monograph.
Similarpublisher
- 7A machine used to print text and images onto paper.
The newspaper installed a faster press last year.
The old printing press could turn out a thousand pages an hour.
UsageThe full form is printing press; a book or paper goes to press when printing starts.
Note
"Stop the presses!" still means halting a print run, and books "pouring off the world's presses" uses the plural for publishing at large. From the machine, the word passed to the newspapers and journalists and to the publishing house itself.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The quoted wording about books pouring off the world's presses is attested. en.wiktionary.org
- “Stop the presses!” refers literally to interrupting printing. en.wiktionary.org
- The newspaper and journalism sense developed from the printing-machine sense. en.wikipedia.org
- The publishing-house sense is a metonymic extension of the printing-machine sense. en.wiktionary.org
- 8To make something flat or smooth by applying pressure, for example with a heavy weight or a hot iron, or to shape it in this way.
Press the dough into a thin, even layer.
The factory presses steel into smooth panels.
UsageOften press something flat, or press clothes with an iron.
- 9A weightlifting exercise in which a weight is forced away from the body by extending the arms or legs.
She finished her set with a heavy overhead press.
The leg press works the large muscles in your thighs.
UsageUsually with the position or limbs: bench press, leg press, overhead press.
Note
Gaines and Butler's Pumping Iron (1974) writes "benchpresses" as one word. The name itself describes the movement, since the weight is pushed away from the body.
- 10A single act of applying pressure; an instance of pressing.
A firm press of the seal left a clear mark in the wax.
With one press of his thumb, the lid clicked shut.
UsageOften a press of something: one press of the button, a firm press of the seal.
Note
Interfaces measure effort in it: connecting takes just a few button presses, the noun form of the button-pushing verb. Football borrows it for a team tactic, the collective harrying of opponents who have the ball. An energetic forward leads the press to force mistakes, so here it means sustained pressure from a whole side, not one push.
- 11To emphasize a point, argument, or demand by urging it strongly and insistently.
The senator pressed her demand for an immediate vote on the bill.
Critics press the argument that the new policy harms small businesses.
UsageUsually press a point, press your case, or press a demand.
Similaremphasize
Note
The stress here falls on an argument, not a syllable. Matthew Arnold's Literature and Dogma (1873) applies it to reading. A reader of very little wants "to press it all," leaning on every word, while a wider reader learns "what ought to be pressed and what not."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Matthew Arnold wrote Literature and Dogma, first published in 1873. en.wikipedia.org
- Arnold applies 'press' to reading and writes 'to press it all' about someone who reads very little. en.wikisource.org
- Arnold writes that wider reading teaches 'what ought to be pressed and what not.' en.wikisource.org
- 12To urge or try hard to persuade someone to do or agree to something, or to push strongly for a particular result.
She pressed the doctor to come at once, fearing for her sick child.
Petitioners press the governor to grant a pardon.
UsageUsually press someone to do something, or press someone for an answer.
- 13To weigh upon, burden, or trouble a person, especially in mind or spirit.
A nameless dread pressed the traveler as the road grew dark.
He turns from us; / Alas, he weeps too! Something presses him / He would reveal, but dare not. Sir, be comforted.
c. 1621, John Fletcher, The PilgrimNote
In this obsolete use, a worry rather than a hand does the pressing, and the object is a person. John Fletcher's The Pilgrim (c. 1621) has "Something presses him / He would reveal, but dare not."
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- In this sense, press means to trouble or oppress a person. en.wiktionary.org
- John Fletcher wrote The Pilgrim. en.wikisource.org
- The first publication was in 1647, in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio. Approximately 1621 is the performance date. en.wikipedia.org
- The quoted words occur in The Pilgrim; the speaker is Alinda. gutenberg.org
- 14The attention and opinion that news outlets give to a person or thing, often considered in terms of whether it is positive or negative.
The senator's handling of the flood earned him rare positive press.
Despite months of negative press over its data practices, the app kept gaining users.
Note
Here the word names what the media say rather than who says it. With "the" in front, it means the newspapers and their reporters; without an article it means their coverage. A judging adjective adds the verdict (good press, terrible press, negative press), while a quantity measures the attention (a lot of press, little press). Get, earn and receive are its usual verbs.
Less common meanings
- 15To try to force something on someone, often something they may not want.
They press free samples on everyone who walks by.
He pressed a large tip on the reluctant waiter.
UsageUsually press something on someone: pressed a tip on the waiter.
Similarurge
Note
The construction is press something on or upon someone, and the something is often unwelcome: a Bible on an audience, a letter in Dryden's The Spanish Fryar (1681). Addison's Cato (1713) stretches it to arguments with "press upon him every motive." At that point, forcing a gift shades into forcing a case.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- John Dryden wrote The Spanish Fryar, first published in 1681. en.wikipedia.org
- The play contains an example of pressing a letter upon someone; the speaker is Dominick. gutenberg.org
- Joseph Addison wrote Cato, first published in 1713. en.wikisource.org
- Cato contains the quoted wording about pressing motives upon someone; Sempronius speaks the line to Syphax. constitution.org
- 16
- 17To crowd or throng closely together in a dense mass.
The mourners pressed around the gate to catch a glimpse of the casket.
Commuters press onto the platform every morning at rush hour.
UsageUsually with a direction: press around the car, press toward the doors, press onto the platform.
- 18A thronging crowd of people gathered closely together.
He elbowed his way through the press toward the harbor wall.
In the press of the crowd she could barely lift her arms.
UsageCommon in the press of the crowd and the press of people.
Note
The King James Bible of 1611 has a man who "could not for the press" see Jesus. Olivia Manning and Vogue keep it alive in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, often as the press of humanity.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The King James Bible was first published in 1611. guides.library.yale.edu
- Luke 19:3 describes a man unable to see Jesus because of the press, using the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
- Olivia Manning used the crowd sense in the twentieth century, in The Spoilt City (1962). en.wiktionary.org
- Vogue used the crowd sense in the twenty-first century, including the phrase press of humanity in its 2015 Chanel review. vogue.com
- 19To hold or clasp a person tightly in an embrace.
He pressed her close as they said their goodbyes at the station.
Reunited soldiers press their families to them on the platform.
UsageUsually with a direction: press someone close, press someone to your chest.
Similarhug
Note
In Dryden's "The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache," Andromache takes her son and presses "th' illustrious infant to her fragrant breast." Hug is the everyday synonym. Press keeps a literary tenderness and suits farewells and reunions.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- John Dryden translated the work titled The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache. celm.folger.edu
- The narrator describes Andromache taking her son and pressing him to her breast, using the quoted wording. iris.unicas.it
- 20To force a person into military service, especially into the navy, against their will.
The gang pressed three fishermen as they came ashore at dusk.
Officers could press merchant seamen whenever the fleet was short of hands.
UsageMost often passive: pressed into service, a phrase still common for anything made to serve.
Note
A man was pressed into service or pressed to the wars, and the passive suits a practice in which he had no say. Dryden's Virgil (1697) gives the classic line: "The peaceful peasant to the wars is press'd." Press-gang, used as a verb, says the same thing more bluntly.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Dryden's English translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
- The quoted line occurs in Dryden's translation of Virgil's first Georgic and exemplifies pressed to the wars. en.wiktionary.org
- Press-gang is a verb meaning to force someone into military or naval service. en.wiktionary.org
- 21An official commission or warrant authorizing the forcing of men into public service, especially the navy.
I have misused the king's press.
c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,”Note
A term from the age of forced recruitment, when the king's press could take a man into the navy against his will. In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 (c. 1597), Falstaff confesses, "I have misused the king's press damnably." The men who carried it out were the press-gang, and the practice was impressment. The verb "to press" a man is the same idea in action.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- The king's press could force men into naval service. en.wiktionary.org
- William Shakespeare wrote Henry IV, Part 1. en.wikipedia.org
- The first publication was in 1598; c. 1597 is a composition date. folger.edu
- Falstaff says, "I have misused the King’s press damnably." The quotation omits the sentence's final word. folger.edu
- The men conducting forced recruitment were called a press-gang. en.wiktionary.org
- The practice was called impressment. en.wikipedia.org
- To press a man means to force him into service. en.wikipedia.org
- 22An enclosed storage space such as a closet or cupboard, often built into a wall.
The linens were folded neatly inside the hallway press.
He found the spare blankets in a press beside the chimney.
UsageCommon in linen press and, in Ireland, hot press, a warm cupboard used for storing or drying linen.
Note
In Ireland and Scotland especially, this is the everyday word for a cupboard: you put the cups in the press, and the ironing in the linen press. The meaning goes back to Old English press, "clothespress." Richard Jefferies' The Amateur Poacher (1879) props a flintlock on a linen press.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The cupboard sense derives partly from Old English press, meaning clothespress. en.wiktionary.org
- Richard Jefferies wrote The Amateur Poacher. gutenberg.org
- The Amateur Poacher was first published in book form in 1879. en.wikipedia.org
- The Amateur Poacher describes a flintlock supported by a linen press. gutenberg.org
- 23To produce printed copies of text or images by means of a printing press.
- 24Pure, unfermented grape juice, as obtained before fermentation begins.
- 25An additional wager in a golf match that duplicates an existing, usually losing, bet in value but starts even from the moment it is made.
- 26In personology, any feature of the environment that arouses a need in a person.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
From Middle English 'presse' (throng, crowd, clothespress), partly from Old English 'press' (clothespress, from Medieval Latin 'pressa') and partly from Old French 'presse', from 'presser' (to press), from Latin 'pressāre', from 'pressus', the past participle of 'premere' (to press). It displaced the native Middle English 'thring' (crowd, throng).
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- English press comes from Middle English presse, meaning throng, crowd or clothespress, partly from Old English press, meaning clothespress, from Medieval Latin pressa. en.wiktionary.org
- The other source is Old French presse, from presser, meaning to press, from Latin pressāre, from pressus. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin pressus is the past participle of premere, meaning to press. en.wiktionary.org
- Press displaced native Middle English thring, meaning crowd or throng. en.wiktionary.org
The verb goes back to Latin premere ("to press"), whose past participle pressus gave Latin pressāre. That became Old French presser ("to press") and then Middle English pressen ("to crowd, press"), which pushed out native Middle English words such as thringen ("to press, crowd") and thrasten ("to press, force, urge").