press

Etymology 1

Middle English presse (“throng, crowd, clothespress”), partially from Old English press (“clothespress”) (from Medieval Latin pressa) and 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”)).

noun

1. An instance of applying pressure; an instance of pressing.
   Connecting to the service is almost idiot proof and takes just a few button presses. 2004 10, “Maximum PC”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 25
   a slaloming winger putting lumpen defenders on their backsides, or even a sneaky centre-forward, using his boundless energy to lead the press and force mistakes. 7 August 2020, Jonathan Liew, “Phil Foden stars to offer Manchester City glimpse of multiple futures”, in The Guardian
2. (countable) A device used to apply pressure to an item.
   a flower press
3. (countable) A printing machine.
   Stop the presses!
4. (uncountable, collective) The print-based media (both the people and the newspapers).
   according to a member of the press
   This article appeared in the press.
   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. 2013-08-10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848
5. (countable) A publisher.
6. (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.
7. (countable, weightlifting) An exercise in which weight is forced away from the body by extension of the arms or legs.
   This is the fourth set of benchpresses. There will be five more; then there will be five sets of presses on an inclined bench[…]. 1974, Charles Gaines, George Butler, Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, page 22
8. (countable, golf, gambling) 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.
   The way a press works is, say you're two down after six holes; you can then start another bet (in effect another match) from the seventh hole, for the same amount, starting all square on the seventh tee. 2012, Gary McCord, Golf For Dummies
   When a side is two or more points down in the match, they may request a press. 2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, Sports Betting, page 181
9. (countable) Pure, unfermented grape juice.
   I would like some Concord press with my meal tonight.
10. A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.
11. (obsolete) A crowd.
12. (psychology) In personology, any environmental factor that arouses a need in the individual.
    The environmental comfort category is illustrative of cases in which there are low environmental presses matched against a number of personal competences. 2009, Allison E. Smith, Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods, page 88

Etymology 2

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. (transitive, intransitive) To exert weight or force against, to act upon with force or weight; to exert pressure upon.
2. (transitive, mechanics, electronics) To activate a button or key by exerting a downward or forward force on it, and then releasing it.
3. (transitive) To compress, squeeze.
   to press fruit for the purpose of extracting the juice
4. (transitive) To clasp, hold in an embrace.
5. (transitive) To reduce to a particular shape or form by pressure, especially flatten or smooth.
   to press cloth with a clothes-iron
   to press a hat
6. (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.
7. (transitive) To drive or thrust by pressure, to force in a certain direction.
   to press a crowd back
8. (transitive, obsolete) To weigh upon, oppress, trouble.
   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 Pilgrim, act I, scene ii
9. (transitive) To force to a certain end or result; to urge strongly.
10. To try to force (something upon someone).
    to press the Bible on an audience
11. (transitive) To hasten, urge onward.
    to press a horse in a race
12. (transitive) To urge, beseech, entreat.
    God heard their prayers, wherein they earnestly pressed him for the honor of his great name. 1825, John Winthrop, The History of New England, volume II, page 29
13. (transitive) To lay stress upon.
    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 learn what ought to be pressed and what not. 1873, Matthew Arnold, “preface”, in Literature and Dogma
14. (transitive, intransitive) To throng, crowd.
15. (transitive, obsolete) To print.
16. To force into service, particularly into naval service.