Press, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pressed p. pr. & vb. n. Pressing.]
 1. To urge, or act upon, with force, as weight; to act upon by pushing or thrusting, in distinction from pulling; to crowd or compel by a gradual and continued exertion; to bear upon; to squeeze; to compress; as, 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; we are pressed in a crowd.
    Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together.   --Luke vi. 38.
 2. To squeeze, in order to extract the juice or contents of; to squeeze out, or express, from something.
 From sweet kernels pressed,
 She tempers dulcet creams.   --Milton.
    And I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.   --Gen. xl. 11.
 3. To squeeze in or with suitable instruments or apparatus, in order to compact, make dense, or smooth; as, to press cotton bales, paper, etc.; to smooth by ironing; as, to press clothes.
 4. To embrace closely; to hug.
 Leucothoe shook at these alarms,
 And pressed Palemon closer in her arms.   --Pope.
 5. To oppress; to bear hard upon.
    Press not a falling man too far.   --Shak.
 6. To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or hunger.
 7. To exercise very powerful or irresistible influence upon or over; to constrain; to force; to compel.
    Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.   --Acts xviii. 5.
 8. To try to force (something upon some one); to urge or inculcate with earnestness or importunity; to enforce; as, to press divine truth on an audience.
    He pressed a letter upon me within this hour.   --Dryden.
    Be sure to press upon him every motive.   --Addison.
 9. To drive with violence; to hurry; to urge on; to ply hard; as, to press a horse in a race.
    The posts . . . went cut, being hastened and pressed on, by the king's commandment.   --Esther viii. 14.
 Note: ☞ 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.
 Pressed brick. See under Brick.


 Brick n.
 1. A block or clay tempered with water, sand, etc., molded into a regular form, usually rectangular, and sun-dried, or burnt in a kiln, or in a heap or stack called a clamp.
    The Assyrians appear to have made much less use of bricks baked in the furnace than the Babylonians.   --Layard.
 2. Bricks, collectively, as designating that kind of material; as, a load of brick; a thousand of brick.
    Some of Palladio's finest examples are of brick.   --Weale.
 3. Any oblong rectangular mass; as, a brick of maple sugar; a penny brick (of bread).
 4. A good fellow; a merry person; as, you 're a brick. [Slang] “He 's a dear little brick.”
 To have a brick in one's hat, to be drunk. [Slang]
 Note: ☞ Brick is used adjectively or in combination; as, brick wall; brick clay; brick color; brick red.
 Brick clay, clay suitable for, or used in making, bricks.
 Brick dust, dust of pounded or broken bricks.
 Brick earth, clay or earth suitable for, or used in making, bricks.
 Brick loaf, a loaf of bread somewhat resembling a brick in shape.
 Brick nogging Arch., rough brickwork used to fill in the spaces between the uprights of a wooden partition; brick filling.
 Brick tea, tea leaves and young shoots, or refuse tea, steamed or mixed with fat, etc., and pressed into the form of bricks. It is used in Northern and Central Asia. --S. W. Williams.
 Brick trimmer Arch., a brick arch under a hearth, usually within the thickness of a wooden floor, to guard against accidents by fire.
 Brick trowel. See Trowel.
 Brick works, a place where bricks are made.
 Bath brick. See under Bath, a city.
 Pressed brick, bricks which, before burning, have been subjected to pressure, to free them from the imperfections of shape and texture which are common in molded bricks.