Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PRESS, v.t. [Fr. presser; It. pressare; to press, crowd, urge, hurry; D. and G. pressen; Sw. prassa; Dan. presser; W. brysiaw, to hurry, formed from rhys, extreme ardency, a rushing. Here we have proof that press is formed from the root of rush, with a prefix. The Spanish has apretar, prenser and aprensar. The L. pressus is from the same root.]

1. To urge with force or weight; a word of extensive use, denoting the application of any power, physical or moral, to something that is to be moved or affected. 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; the smith presses iron with his vise; we are pressed with the weight of arguments or of cares, troubles and business.
2. To squeeze; to crush; as, to press grapes. – Gen. xi.
3. To drive with violence; to hurry; as, to press a horse in motion, or in a race.
4. To urge; to enforce; to inculcate with earnestness; as, to press divine truth on an audience.
5. To embrace closely; to hug. Leucothoe shook / And press'd Palemon closer in her arms. – Pope.
6. To force into service, particularly into naval service; to impress. – Clarendon. Dryden.
7. To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or with difficulties.
8. To constrain; to compel; to urge by authority or necessity. The posts that rode on mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. – Esth. viii.
9. To urge; to impose by importunity. He pressed a letter upon me, within this hour, to deliver to you. – Dryden.
10. To urge or solicit with earnestness or importunity. He pressed me to accept of his offer.
11. To urge; to constrain. Paul was pressed in spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. – Acts xviii. Wickedness pressed with conscience, forecasteth grievous things. – Wisdom.
12. To squeeze for making smooth; as cloth or paper. 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.