press down

present singular third person presses down · participle present pressing down · participle past pressed down · past pressed down

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see press, down.

   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

   1 more example

   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.

   Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 6:38

2. figurativelyintransitiveTo exert an oppressive influence.

   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

   1 more example

   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

3. To press or push, especially for a long time.