PRESS (through Fr. presse from

See also:

• LAT

Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)  , a word which appears in English in the 13th and 14th centuries with three particular ' The style "president " was in every case exchanged for that of " governor " within a few years of the proclamation of the independence of the United States . The title " president " is no longer used for any governor under the British Crown, but relics of past usage survive in the " presidencies " of Madras and Bombay . meanings, viz . (r) crowd or throng, often used of the melee in a battle, (2) a shelved cupboard for books or clothes, and (3) an apparatus for exerting pressure on various substances, and for various purposes . The first meaning is still current, though usually it has a literary air; a specific use is the nautical one of " press of sail," i.e. as much sail as the wind will allow; cf. the similar use of " crowd." The second use has given way to other words, but is still the technical term in use in libraries, where the books bear " press-marks " specifying the case or shelf where they may be found . As a term for a machine or apparatus for exerting pressure, there are innumerable examples, usually with a qualifying word giving the purpose for which the pressure is applied, either for attaining compression into a small space, or a required shape, or for extracting juices or liquids, or the methods adopted for exerting the pressure . The printing-press has given rise to obvious transferred uses of the word " press ": thus it is applied to an establishment for printing, e.g. the Clarendon Press, at Oxford, or the Pitt Press, at Cambridge, to a printing-house and to the staff which conduct the business, to the issue of printed matter and especially to its daily or periodical issue, hence newspapers and periodicals generally . According to the New English Dictionary this use originated in phrases such as " the liberty of the press," " to write for the press," &c . The earliest quotation given is from the first number of the Dublin Press, 1797 . For the history of the liberty or freedom of the press see PRESS LAWS; also NEWSPAPERS and PERIODICALS . For the punishment of "pressing " see PEINE FORTE ET DURE . It is now recognized that " press " in " press gang," " to press," i.e. to force or compulsorily enlist men for naval or military service, is a word distinct from the above .

It stands for the earlier " prest," and is ultimately due to

French prefer, to lend (see IMPRESSMENT) .