press down
verb1
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see press, down.
- Giue, and it shall bee giuen vnto you, good measure, preassed downe, and shaken together, and running ouer, shall men giue into your bosome: for with the same measure that ye mete withall, it shall bee measured to you againe.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 6:38:
- You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.1896 July 9, William Jennings Bryan, Cross of Gold speech:
2
Figuratively To exert an oppressive influence.
- Or, as the same poet goes on, "when awful old age pressed down upon him, she put him away in an inner room of the house and shut the shining doors".2014 May 9, Mary Beard, “A Point of View: The paradox of growing old”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2022:
- Time is pressing down on us, fastening each moment to the railroad of our lives.2022, Chitra Ramaswamy, Homelands: The History of a Friendship, Canongate Books, →ISBN:
3
To press or push, especially for a long time.