# press
## English
### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) IPA: /pɹɛs/
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛs

### Etymology 1

From 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

press (countable and uncountable, plural presses)
* An instance of applying pressure; an instance of pressing.
** 2004 10, “Maximum PC”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 25:Connecting to the service is almost idiot proof and takes just a few button presses.
** 2020 August 7, Jonathan Liew, “Phil Foden stars to offer Manchester City glimpse of multiple futures”, in The Guardian‎: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.
* (countable) A device used to apply pressure to an item.
    a flower press
* (uncountable) A crowd.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 19:3:And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.
** 1962, Olivia Manning, The Spoilt City; republished as The Balkan Trilogy, 1990, →ISBN, page 327:The press in the square grew. Something would happen now.
** 2015 March 10, Tim Banks, “Chanel Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear Collection”, in Vogue:Imagine the press of humanity in a crowded Parisian brasserie, circa the era when Lagerfeld would have been patronizing such joints.
* (countable) A printing machine.
    Synonym: printing press
    Stop the presses!
** 1972, Carol A. Nemeyer, Scholarly Reprint Publishing in the United States, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →ISBN, page 8:That books are pouring off the world’s presses at unprecedented rates is a fact often alluded to as a flood that is inundating libraries and the book trades.
* (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.
** 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:From another point of view, it was a place without a soul. The well-to-do had hearts of stone; the rich were brutally bumptious; the Press, the Municipality, all the public men, were ridiculously, vaingloriously self-satisfied.
** 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848: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.
* (countable) A publisher.
* (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.
** 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].
* (countable, weightlifting) An exercise in which weight is forced away from the body by extension of the arms or legs.
** 1974, Charles Gaines, George Butler, Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, page 22:This is the fourth set of benchpresses. There will be five more; then there will be five sets of presses on an inclined bench […].
* (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.
** 2012, Gary McCord, Golf For Dummies: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.
** 2014, Nicolae Sfetcu, Sports Betting, page 181:When a side is two or more points down in the match, they may request a press.
* (countable) Pure, unfermented grape juice.
    I would like some Concord press with my meal tonight.
* A commission to force men into public service, particularly into the navy.
    Synonym: press-gang
** c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:I have misused the king's press.
* (psychology) In personology, any environmental factor that arouses a need in the individual.
** 2009, Allison E. Smith, Ageing in Urban Neighbourhoods, page 88:The environmental comfort category is illustrative of cases in which there are low environmental presses matched against a number of personal competences.

##### Synonyms

* (storage space): See closet, cupboard, pantry

##### Derived terms

* all-court press
* alternative press
* amateur press association
* any press is good press
* arming press
* bad press
* bench press
* bench-press
* body press
* brake press
* Bramah press
* chest press
* cider press
* close for press
* clothes press
* clothes-press
* cookie press
* copying press
* digital press
* drill press
* drop press
* duck press
* fly press
* freedom of the press
* free press
* French press
* fruit press
* full court press
* full-court press
* gang press
* garlic press
* good press
* go to press
* gutter press
* hand press
* hot from the press
* hot press
* hydraulic press
* key press
* leg press
* long-press
* mating press
* military press
* monkey press
* overhead press
* Pallof press
* perfecting press
* permanent press
* pill press
* plate press
* press agency
* press agent
* press avail
* press availability
* press box
* press brake
* press button
* press cake
* press card
* press conference
* press corps
* press gaggle
* press gallery
* press gang
* press junket
* press kit
* press-mark
* press money
* press office
* press officer
* press-on
* press pack
* press pass
* press pool
* press pot
* press proof
* press relations
* press release
* press revise
* press roll
* press run
* press secretary
* press time
* press-up
* press wheel
* printed press
* read for press
* rolling press
* rotary press
* rotary printing press
* run of press
* science by press release
* screw press
* shoulder press
* silk press
* small press
* stop press
* stop the presses
* there is no such thing as bad press
* trade press
* trouser press
* vanity press
* wheel press
* yellow press

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From 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

press (third-person singular simple present presses, present participle pressing, simple past and past participle pressed or prest)
* (ambitransitive) To exert weight or force against, to act upon with force or weight; to exert pressure upon.
* (transitive, mechanics, electronics) To activate a button or key by exerting a downward or forward force on it, and then releasing it.
    Synonyms: strike, hit, depress
* (transitive) To compress, squeeze.
    Synonyms: thring, thrutch; see also Thesaurus:compress
    to press fruit for the purpose of extracting the juice
* (transitive) To clasp, hold in an embrace.
    Synonym: hug
** a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The Last Parting of Hector and Andromache. From the Sixth Book of the Iliad.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 456:With tears and ſmiles ſhe took her ſon, and preſs'd / Th' illuſtrious infant to her fragrant breaſt.
* (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
* (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.
* (transitive) To drive or thrust by pressure, to force in a certain direction.
    Synonyms: thring, thrutch
    to press a crowd back
* (transitive, obsolete) To weigh upon, oppress, trouble.
** c. 1621, John Fletcher, The Pilgrim, act I, scene ii:He turns from us; / Alas, he weeps too! Something presses him / He would reveal, but dare not. Sir, be comforted.
* (transitive) To force to a certain end or result; to urge strongly.
    Synonym: impel
** 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan):The two gentlemen who conducted me to the island were pressed by their private affairs to return in three days.
* To try to force (something upon someone).
    Synonyms: urge, inculcate
    to press the Bible on an audience
** 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act II, page 27:He press'd a letter upon me within this hour.
** 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:Be sure to press upon him every motive.
* (transitive) To hasten, urge onward.
    to press a horse in a race
* (transitive) To urge, beseech, entreat.
** 1825, John Winthrop, The History of New England, volume II, page 29:God heard their prayers, wherein they earnestly pressed him for the honor of his great name.
* (transitive) To lay stress upon.
    Synonym: emphasize
** 1873, Matthew Arnold, “preface”, in Literature and Dogma: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.
* (ambitransitive) To throng, crowd.
    Synonyms: thring, thrutch; see also Thesaurus:assemble
* (transitive, obsolete) To print.
* To force into service, particularly into naval service.
    Synonym: press-gang
** 1697, Virgil, “The First Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:The peaceful peasant to the wars is press'd.

##### Derived terms

* press ahead
* press charges
* press flesh
* press forward
* press F to pay respects
* press home
* pressing pad
* press into service
* press on
* press one's case
* press one's luck
* press out
* press pause
* press someone's buttons
* press stud
* press the flesh
* press the panic button
* press tits
* press-to-talk
* press-to-transmit

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### See also

* hot press (baking, laundry)
* hot off the press (printing)
* press down

### References

* Entry for the imperfect and past participle in Webster's dictionary
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “press”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “press”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

### Anagrams

* ERSPs, RESPs, SERPs, Spers

## German
### Verb

press
* singular imperative of pressen
* (colloquial) first-person singular present of pressen

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology 1

From the verb presse.

#### Noun

press n (definite singular presset, indefinite plural press, definite plural pressa or pressene)
* pressure
* (weightlifting) a press

##### Related terms

* trykk

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

press
* imperative of presse

### References

* “press” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
* “press_1” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From the verb presse.

### Noun

press n (definite singular presset, indefinite plural press, definite plural pressa)
* pressure
* (weightlifting) a press

#### Related terms

* trykk

### References

* “press” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Spanish
### Noun

press m (plural press)
* press (exercise)

## Swedish
### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

press c
* a press; a tool that applies pressure (to make things flat, to make juice)
* a (printing) press
    stoppa pressarna
       stop the presses
* the press (newspapers, journalism as a branch of society)
* (mental) pressure
* a muscle exercise that applies pressure

#### Related terms

* apelsinpress
* benpress
* blompress
* brevpress
* bänkpress
* digelpress
* pressa
* pressansvarig
* pressattaché
* pressbyrå
* pressekreterare
* pressfrihet
* pressgurka
* presskonferens
* pressmeddelande
* pressning
* pressombudsman
* pressråd
* pressträff
* presstöd
* pressuppbåd
* sedelpress
* tryckpress
* vitlökspress

### Further reading

* press in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
* press in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)