▪ I. ˈpressing, vbl. n.1
[f. press v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of press v.1, in various senses.
| c 1400 Rom. Rose 6436 Withoute presing more on thee, I wol forth, and to him goon. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 412/2 Pressynge, compressio. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 297 Then was there great preassing to take the King. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 414 Good housholders doe not loose the drosse of their pressings, but..cast them into vessells, and with..water, make Cider for the houshold. 1674 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 265 Without y⊇ extraordinary pressing of friends I cannot remaine in it. 1681 Trial S. Colledge 10 The common Judgment of Pressing to Death must not pass upon him, but an Attainder of High-Treason. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 207 Those secret Hints, or Pressings of my Mind, to doing, or not doing any Thing that presented. 1838 James Robber vi, The madman required no pressing. 1881 Porcelain Works, Worcester 21 The manufacture of soup tureens, covered dishes,..basins, &c. is called Hollow Ware Pressing. Ibid., The manufacture of plates and dishes is called Flat Pressing. a 1911 D. G. Phillips Susan Lenox in Hearst's Mag. (1915) June 538/1 Susan finished her pressing and started to dress. 1960 Vogue Pattern Bk. Autumn 61 Careful pressing, at every stage in making clothes, helps to give your work that smooth professional finish. 1969 T. C. Thorstensen Pract. Leather Technol. xii. 192 This pressing of the oil removes some of the high melting point components and gives the oil a lower cold test. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 15 Nov. 15/5 The match was one of two halves, with Basingstoke doing all the pressing in the first. |
2. a. That which results from or remains after pressing; the product of the pressing, the juice; in
pl. also, the solid matter left after expressing juice.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 59 Where is want of such pulse, they may give them pressings of Grapes dryed and cleansed. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 335 Which..you may put among your pressings for a Water Cyder. 1898 Rev. Brit. Pharm. 32 The third pressing is evaporated to such a volume that when added to the first two the whole shall measure 2 pints. |
b. An article formed or shaped in a press;
spec. a gramophone record made by stamping a blank with a matrix.
| 1922 Metal Industry XX. 273/1 Many parts are now being manufactured as pressings which a few years ago would have been thought impossible. 1927 Gramophone Sept. 139/1 The new white label pressings arrived just in time for me to take them to Paris. 1952 Godfrey & Amos Sound Recording & Reproduction v. 143 A vinyl pressing is superior to one made in shellac in that it is far less fragile. 1959 Motor Manual (ed. 36) 7 A pressing is produced by squeezing the sheet of steel between a die, securely anchored in the base of the press, and the punch which is forced into it at a pressure of 750 tons or more. 1959 Times Rev. Industry Nov. 46/2 Quantities of pressings and castings are required by makers of household equipment. 1962 Times 5 July 15/6 A master tape of a recent recording of music by Prokofiev and an ordinary commercial pressing of a disc made from it were started simultaneously. 1973 D. Westheimer Going Public v. 77 Lee..turned on the stereo. It was an LP pressing of some old John Kirby RPM singles. |
3. attrib. and
Comb. with sense ‘used in or for pressing’, as
pressing-bag,
pressing-case,
pressing cloth,
pressing-cylinder,
pressing-knife,
pressing-machine,
pressing pad,
pressing-plank,
pressing plant,
pressing-plate,
pressing rag,
pressing-roller,
pressing room,
pressing-shed, etc.;
pressing board (
a) one of a pair of boards used in bookbinding to compress the sheets or volumes, and by botanists in pressing specimens of plants; (
b) an ironing board.
pressing-fat = press-fat: see
press n.1 17 a;
pressing-paper (sense in
quot. 1545 uncertain); now, botanical drying-paper.
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Pressing-bag, the horsehair cloth bag in which flaxseed or stearic acid is pressed. |
| 1823 G. Martin Bookbinder's Compl. Instr. 9 *Pressing Boards, are flat boards made of well seasoned beech. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 7) I. 424 (Bookbinding) The volumes are carefully laid between pressing-boards with their rounded backs put outside the edges of each pressing-board so as to escape the coming squeeze. 1894 Fenn In Alpine Valley I. 153 Only let me get my pressing-boards and the alpenstock. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 151/1 (heading) Ironing and Pressing Boards. |
| 1897 E. L. Voynich Gadfly (1904) 5/2 He expended half his spare cash on botanical books and *pressing-cases, and started off..for his first Alpine ramble. |
| 1917 E. R. Hambridge Simple Dressmaking iii. 65/2 Wring out the *pressing cloth very tightly, and lay it on the fabric. 1974 Lippman & Erskine Dressmaking made Simple iv. 59 A pressing cloth can be obtained pre-treated. |
| 1810 Patent Specif. No. 3385 Having the *pressing cylinder reduced at one side in the well-known form called the D roller (chiefly used by calicoe printers). |
| 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 214 There shall the right *pressing-fat be set vp and made readie. |
| 1825 Austin Papers (1924) II. 1028 We intend to send a gin and probably a *pressing machine. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 113/1 Two Cloth Cutting Machines. One Pressing Machine. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 671/2 Pressing machine, a machine in which the whole forming operation is carried out by pressing the plastic glass by a plunger forced into a die or mould. The machine may be operated by hand or it may be fully automatic. |
| 1947 C. Talbot Compl. Bk. Sewing xxxi. 208/1 The rounded shaping of armhole and shoulder..must be protected in pressing. A tailor's cushion, a *pressing pad, or a sleeve board will help. 1974 Lippman & Erskine Dressmaking made Simple vi. 87 Press..shaped parts over the tailor's pressing cushion/pad. |
| 1545 Rates of Customs c ij b, *Pressing papers the C. leues xx d. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 488 Make thy *pressing plank..of the black Sapine or Horn-beam tree. |
| 1958 Manch. Guardian 21 Jan. 6/6 Oriole Records Ltd...has its own *pressing plant and..presses all Mr. Lonsdale's records for him. |
| 1934 A. L. Hird Princ. & Pract. Needlework & Dressmaking iv. 41 Do not apply water directly to any materials except wool and wool mixtures, but always by way of *pressing rag or as steam. |
| 1922 O. Mitchell Talking Machines vi. 70 When the discs pass into the *pressing room the steel backing is laid upon a heated table with the mould upwards. 1937 F. Stark Baghdad Sketches 36 He was a tailor in his spare time, and he used the roof as a pressing room. |
▪ II. pressing, vbl. n.2 see under
press v.
2▪ III. ˈpressing, ppl. a. [f. press v.1 + -ing2.] That presses, in various senses of the verb.
1. That presses, or weighs heavily; burdensome.
| 1591 Troub. Raigne K. John i. 14 The heauy yoke Of pressing cares, that hang vpon a Crowne. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees ii. 15 The sense of his present misery is therefore the more pressing. |
2. That presses physically; exerting or causing pressure.
pressing sail: see
press n.1 10.
| 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 211 Bodies, whose parts yield more or less to the endeavour which the pressing body makes at the first arrival. 1807 Wordsw. White Doe v. 65 Nor wanted 'mid the pressing crowd Deep feeling. |
3. Calling for immediate attention; urgent.
| 1616 J. Chamberlain in Crt. & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 400 Providing for matters most necessary, and discharging the most pressing and crying debts. 1690 Locke Govt. i. iv. §42 His pressing wants call for it. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 175 [He] advanced into the provinces of the South, to encounter a more pressing and personal danger. 1807–8 Syd. Smith Plymley's Lett. Wks. 1859 II. 151/2 Pressing evils are not got rid of, because they are not talked of. 1885 Law Rep. 29 Ch. Div. 459 The real object..was to enable the directors to pay off pressing liabilities. |
b. Of a request, invitation, etc.: Expressed with an earnest desire for compliance; also of the person: persistent in solicitation; importunate.
| 1705 Stanhope Paraphr. III. 201 They received fresh and more pressing Invitations. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 200 ¶2 My Mother..is very pressing with me to marry. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Pref., A new and pressing application for the Author's sentiments. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 29 They are very pressing in their invitations whenever any eating is going on. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 662 He had..come up to town..in consequence of a pressing summons from Porter. |