pressing

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹɛsɪŋ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsɪŋ

Adjective

pressing (comparative more pressing, superlative most pressing)

1. Needing urgent attention.
   • 1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge. Chapter 75.”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume III, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     “I come on business.—Private,” he added, with a glance at the man who stood looking on, “and very pressing business.”

   • 1951 March, E. J. Tyler, “Post-War Recovery on the Netherlands Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 157:

     The rebuilding of damaged stations is proceeding slowly, on account of the shortage of building materials and the pressing needs of housing, but steady progress is being made.

   • 2013 January 3, Luke Harding, Uki Goni, “Argentina urges UK to hand back Falklands and 'end colonialism'”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Argentinians support the "Malvinas" cause, which is written into the constitution. But they are also worried about pressing economic problems such as inflation, rising crime and corruption.

   • 2019 September 18, Drachinifel, 25:58 from the start, in Battle of Tsushima - When the 2nd Pacific Squadron thought it couldn't get any worse...‎^[2], archived from the original on 4 December 2022:

     Four Japanese torpedo boats launch an attack on the Suvorov. Despite burning steadily for several hours and now taking a torpedo to the stern, the ship still lashes out at its attackers with a few remaining guns. With no pressing need to continue the attack to closer range, the torpedo boats fall back, noting the position for a night attack if Suvorov survives that long.

2. Insistent, earnest, or persistent.
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 2, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London, New York, N.Y., Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:

     You are very pressing, Basil, but I am afraid I must go.

   • 1908, Joseph Conrad, The Duel:

     He was pressing and persuasive.

Quotations

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:pressing.

Derived terms

• pressingly
• pressingness

Translations

needing urgent attention — see also urgent

• Bulgarian: спешен (bg) (spešen), неотложен (bg) (neotložen)
• Irish: práinneach
• Italian: urgente (it), imminente (it), pressante (it)
• Latin: instans
• Maori: kōhukihuki
• Persian: فوری (fa) (fovri)
• Russian: неотло́жный (ru) (neotlóžnyj)
• Spanish: apremiante (es), acuciante (es)
• Yiddish: אײַליק (aylik)

insistent, earnest, or persistent

• Bulgarian: настоятелен (bg) (nastojatelen)
• Italian: insistente (it), persistente (it)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: acuciante (es)

Noun

pressing (plural pressings)

1. The application of pressure by a press or other means.
2. A metal or plastic part made with a press.
3. The process of improving the appearance of clothing by improving creases and removing wrinkles with a press or an iron.
4. A memento preserved by pressing, folding, or drying between the leaves of a flat container, book, or folio. Usually done with a flower, ribbon, letter, or other soft, small keepsake.
5. The extraction of juice from fruit using a press.
6. A phonograph record; a number of records pressed at the same time.
7. Urgent insistence.

Derived terms

• head pressing
• pressing cloth
• pressing comb
• test pressing

 

Verb

pressing

1. present participle and gerund of press

Anagrams

• springes, presigns, spersing, Spigners, Persings

French

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from pressing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɛ.siŋ/ ~ /pʁe.siŋ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pressing m (plural pressings)

1. dry cleaning shop, a dry-cleaner's

Further reading

• “pressing”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from press(ure) +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈprɛs.sinɡ/, /ˈprɛs.sin/
• Rhymes: -ɛssinɡ, -ɛssin
• Hyphenation: près‧sing

Noun

pressing m (invariable)

1. (sports, especially soccer) continuous and pressing action that does not allow the opposing team to catch its breath, aiming to remove the ball from its possession
2. (figurative, by extension) pressure

   il governo è stato costretto a subire il pressing della sinistra

   the government was confined to undergo the left's pressure