pressure cooker
[f. pressure n. + cooker.]
a. An airtight vessel in which food can be cooked in steam under pressure, so that a higher temperature is reached and the food is cooked more quickly.
| 1915 Jrnl. Home Econ. VII. 375 Why should the modern household more than the modern factory reject a tool of value? This question might well be asked concerning pressure cookers. 1919 Delineator Nov. 53/1 Of all modern household saving devices on the market to-day..there is no one article which does more toward lessening household burdens..than the pressure cooker. 1937 H. W. Tilman Ascent of Nanda Devi x. 111 Weight was saved by the abandonment of two pressure cookers..a cooker that cooks by steam under pressure and in which, I think, even a pair of boots would be made edible. 1950 F. Swinnerton Flower for Catherine 57 Probably some tough old sheep, with lambs of her own, that I shall have to tenderize in the pressure cooker. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 229/1 Some pressure cookers have lids which seal internally, fitting under a rim. 1969 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 5 Oct. 5/2, I had brought along my pressure cooker for speed, and soon I had this filled with the tasty ingredients for a stew. |
b. fig. (freq. attrib.).
| 1954 Koestler Invis. Writing iv. 54, I had acquired it [sc. Russian]..by the same pressure-cooker method by which I had learnt modern Hebrew. 1958 Spectator 13 June 759/1 Strict curfews and a huge concentration of troops restored order, but the valve of the pressure-cooker was seen to be under enormous strain. 1968 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 18 Dec. (1970) 758 Every day of the last four years it seems to me she [sc. Mrs. Hubert Humphrey] has grown..and especially in the pressure cooker of a campaign. 1974 Spartanburg (S. Carolina) Herald 18 Apr. c4/1 With the season now almost four months old and the pressure cooker of the Masters just behind them, most of the game's top guns are taking a break. 1976 L. Sanders Hamlet Warning (1977) iv. 36 Santo Domingo was a pressure cooker, ready to explode. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 25 Dec. 6/5 An auction's pressure cooker atmosphere is no place for split second decisions involving tens of thousands of dollars. |
Hence (lit. and fig.) pressure-cook v. trans. (also absol.), pressure-cooked ppl. a., pressure-cooking vbl. n.; also pressure cookery.
| 1940 Sears, Roebuck Catal. Spring/Summer 612 Your meals will taste better, too, because pressure cooking retains all the delicate flavors. 1950 Mrs. Beeton's Bk. Househ. Managem. 1155 (heading) Hay-box and pressure cookery. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 616/2 Pressure-cook for 25–30 minutes. Ibid. 618/2 Pressure cookery is the only safe method for the home sterilising of bottled and canned vegetables. 1958 Listener 2 Jan. 13/2 The Russians..avoid early specialisation or pressure-cooking in education. 1958 Woman 27 Sept. 4/3, I pressure-cooked it until the meat left the bone. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 9 Feb. (Suppl.) 2/1 Nut and raisin pressure-cooked loaf cake is covered with a double thickness of greased paper. 1968 Time 11 Oct. 28 We concocted Chicago from one Bat for peace, Numerous Democratic toads, And a pressure-cooked American flag. |