- Pressure
- Pressure Pres"sure (?; 138), n. [OF., fr. L. pressura, fr.
premere. See 4th {Press}.]
1. The act of pressing, or the condition of being pressed;
compression; a squeezing; a crushing; as, a pressure of
the hand.
[1913 Webster]
2. A contrasting force or impulse of any kind; as, the pressure of poverty; the pressure of taxes; the pressure of motives on the mind; the pressure of civilization. [1913 Webster]
Where the pressure of danger was not felt. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
3. Affliction; distress; grievance. [1913 Webster]
My people's pressures are grievous. --Eikon Basilike. [1913 Webster]
In the midst of his great troubles and pressures. --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]
4. Urgency; as, the pressure of business. [1913 Webster]
5. Impression; stamp; character impressed. [1913 Webster]
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
6. (Mech.) The action of a force against some obstacle or opposing force; a force in the nature of a thrust, distributed over a surface, often estimated with reference to the amount upon a unit's area. [1913 Webster]
7. Electro-motive force. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Atmospheric pressure}, {Center of pressure}, etc. See under {Atmospheric}, {Center}, etc.
{Back pressure} (Steam engine), pressure which resists the motion of the piston, as the pressure of exhaust steam which does not find free outlet.
{Fluid pressure}, pressure like that exerted by a fluid. It is a thrust which is normal and equally intense in all directions around a point. --Rankine.
{Pressure gauge}, a gauge for indicating fluid pressure; a manometer. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
