PRESSURE

pressure. Pressure, n. weight, force, impression, affliction

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Pres″sure (?; 138), n. [[OF., fr. L. pressura, fr. premere. See 4th Press.]] 1. 1. The act of pressing, or the condition of being pressed; compression; a squeezing; a crushing; as, a pressure of the hand.
2. 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. Macaulay. 3. 3. Affliction; distress; grievance.
My people's pressures are grievous. Eikon Basilike. In the midst of his great troubles and pressures. Atterbury. 4. 4. Urgency; as, the pressure of business.
5. 5. Impression; stamp; character impressed.
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past. Shak. 6. 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.
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.