Press

How to spell press

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce press

What does press mean?

1. verbTo push firmly against something, or to apply steady force or pressure.
2. nounNewspapers, journalists, and news organisations collectively.
3. nounA machine that applies pressure, especially one used for printing or for squeezing liquid from fruit.

Press in a sentence

• verb

  Press the button to start the machine.

• noun

  The company issued a statement to the press this morning.

• noun

  The old printing press still sits in the museum corner.

• verb

  She had to press the shirt before the interview.

• noun

  Members of the press gathered outside the courthouse.

• noun

  The winery uses a hydraulic press to extract the juice.

Where does press come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin verb premere, which meant 'to press, push, or squeeze', and from its frequentative form pressare, which described pressing repeatedly or firmly. English took it through Old French presser in the 1300s, originally with the plain physical sense of crowding or squeezing. From that base meaning the word branched out in several directions: the device that squeezes grapes or olives became a 'press', and after the invention of movable type the machine that pushed inked type onto paper was likewise called a printing press. By extension the whole industry of printed news, and later the journalists who gather it, became 'the press'. The same Latin premere also gives us relatives such as 'pressure', 'compress', and 'express', which all share the idea of pushing or squeezing.

How the word is built

• press (from Latin pressare/premere: to push, squeeze); a single unanalysable root with no prefix or suffix