Sentence:  His energy was prodigious ; sometimes he would be up before dawn , clad as a garbage collector and hurling pails into areaways to exasperate us , and thereafter would hurry to the Bronx Zoo to grimace at the lions and <WSD>press</WSD> cigar butts against their paws . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  exert pressure or force to or upon