PRESSURE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Pressure

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/prˈɛʃər/ Listen

noun

Pressure n.

1.

The act of pressing, or the condition of being pressed; compression; a squeezing; a crushing; as, a pressure of the hand.

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. "Where the pressure of danger was not felt."

3.

Affliction; distress; grievance. "My people's pressures are grievous." "In the midst of his great troubles and pressures."

4.

Urgency; as, the pressure of business.

5.

Impression; stamp; character impressed. "All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past."

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.

7.

Electro-motive force.

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.

Pressure gauge, a gauge for indicating fluid pressure; a manometer.

See images of 'Pressure'

Etymology of 'Pressure'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Pressure" Quotes from Famous Books

... separation, even although the ties of husband and wife, parents and children were most closely knit, his reason dictated that he would be justified in freeing himself if possible; indeed, he could not endure the pressure of Slavery any longer. Although only twenty-three years of age, the burdens that he had been called upon to bear, made his naturally intelligent mind chafe to an unusual degree, especially when reflecting upon a continued life of Slavery. ...

— The Underground Railroad • William Still

... is a miscomprehension comparable only to that of one who should imagine that a man's lungs always occupy but a small portion of the thoracic cavity—because they do so when the chest is opened, and their elasticity is no longer neutralized by the pressure of the air. ...

— Lectures and Essays • T.H. Huxley

... that day seems pitifully small as I sit on my veranda and look at my barns and silos, and see the straight rows of corn leaning like the characters of God's handwriting across the broad intervale of Vandemark's Folly flat, sloping to the loving pressure of the steady warm west wind of Iowa, and clapping a million dark green hands in acclamation of the full tide of life sucked up from the richest breast that Mother Earth in all her bountiful curves turns to ...

— Vandemark's Folly • Herbert Quick

... into a frapped perspiration. He placed his hands upon her shoulders, and, drawing her toward him, bent swiftly down to kiss her. For a fleeting instant she drew back, and then Bobby had the surprise of his life, for her warm lips met his quite willingly, and with a frank pressure almost equal to his own. She sprang back from him at once with sparkling eyes, but he had no mind to follow up his advantage, for he was dazed. It had left him breathless, amazed, incredulous. He stood for a full minute, his face gone white with the overwhelming ...

— The Making of Bobby Burnit - Being a Record of the Adventures of a Live American Young Man • George Randolph Chester

... gave an "invitation," holding his sword-arm wide to the right of his body. Sir Matthew lunged, his sword was caught, carried out to the left, and held there as Sir Seymour's blade slid inward along it. Just in time, Sir Matthew's inward pressure carried Sir Seymour's sword clear to the right again. Sir Matthew disengaged over, and, as the sudden release brought Sir Seymour's sword springing in, he thrust under that gentleman's right arm ...

— Snake and Sword - A Novel • Percival Christopher Wren

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