资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Press \Press\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Pressed}; p. pr. & vb. n.
{Pressing}.] [F. presser, fr. L. pressare to press, fr.
premere, pressum, to press. Cf. {Print}, v.]
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 \Brick\, n. [OE. brik, F. brique; of Ger. origin; cf. AS.
brice a breaking, fragment, Prov. E. brique piece, brique de
pain, equiv. to AS. hl[=a]fes brice, fr. the root of E.
break. See {Break}.]
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.'' --Thackeray.
{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.