Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To force into military or naval service.
- transitive verb To force or coerce.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To act as a press-gang.
- noun A detachment under the command of an officer empowered to impress men into the public service, especially the naval service.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A body of men employed to force others into military or naval service.
- verb To force men into military or naval service.
- verb To
coerce somebody into doing something that they are reluctant to do.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Are we really going to press-gang (intentional pun) our media into tasting in isolation and only when they have paid for the opportunity themselves?
The state of Australian wine – and Landmark Australia | Dr Vino's wine blog 2009
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Used as press-gang hounds by the Terran Exploitations Company.
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: Shadow Over Mars - Leigh Brackett Blue Tyson 2010
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Used as press-gang hounds by the Terran Exploitations Company.
Archive 2010-04-01 Blue Tyson 2010
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Not to be deterred, Andrew managed to press-gang a substitute.
Rowing the ATLANTIC Roz Savage 2009
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Not to be deterred, Andrew managed to press-gang a substitute.
Rowing the ATLANTIC Roz Savage 2009
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From what I understand, much motivation for Taliban recruits besides the press-gang, is the fact all those Western troops are kicking around.
Afghansitan on CBC Boris 2009
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“One crew leaves, they have to press-gang another.”
Underworld Don Delillo 2008
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“One crew leaves, they have to press-gang another.”
Underworld Don Delillo 2008
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“One crew leaves, they have to press-gang another.”
Underworld Don Delillo 2008
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Recently Caco tried to press-gang 30 leading members of the military police, setting off a street battle between branches of the Bosnian armed forces that left one dead and several wounded.
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