(high-)pressured

[Benjamin Zimmer]

* high-pressured, a. (OED2 1947)

1915 _Elyria Evening Telegram_ (Ohio) 19 Oct. 4/4 Tea and coffee come
pretty near to being Nature's beneficent contribution to the welfare of
the high-pressured, so to speak, human race.

1919 _Coshocton Tribune_ (Ohio) 16 Sep. 8 (advt.) For every "flashlight"
... use an Eveready Tungsten battery -- the high-pressured power plant
that shoots out the long, strong stream of all-seeing light.

1920 _Sheboygan Press_ (Wisc.) 14 Dec. 8 (advt.) Friede's Clothes Shop
whips into the gap with unmuzzled guns and decks cleared for action! In 9
of the biggest high-pressured selling days ever experienced in Sheboygan.


* high-pressure, v. 'to coerce (someone) to do something' (OED2 1962)

1924 _Los Angeles Times_ 20 Jul. V-2/4 The real-estate dealers cannot
afford to antagonize prospective customers by creating ill feeling among a
few who have been "high-pressured" into buying.

1927 _Los Angeles Times_ 9 Dec. 7 (advt.) You know you'll not be "high
pressured" into buying a higher priced suit when you come to Brooks.

1928 _Decatur Herald_ (Ill.) 28 Mar. 6/3 They advertise how thoroughly
some signal salesman has high pressured the president and boards of
trustees of little towns which didn't need a single  light, and all but
had one of them on every corner.


* high-pressuring, vbl. n. (not in OED)

1936 _Clearfield Progress_ (Pa.) 30 Nov. 5/6 When Navy trimmed the Army by
a touchdown Saturday as a direct result of getting the ball on the West
Pointers' three-yard l|ne through such an interference penalty, it
probably was the "payoff" penalty which will lead to "high-pressuring" for
alteration of the ruling.

1937 _Chicago Tribune_ 14 Feb. B10/1 The one-sided conversation was one of
the smoothest jobs of high-pressuring you ever would want to hear.


* pressure, v. 'to coerce (someone) to do something' (OED2 1939)

[different sense?]
1933 _Daily Gleaner_ (Kingston, Jamaica) 5 Jun. 6/7 Head Play broke from
outside of the starting gate, lost some ground when moving into the lead,
held on gamely when pressured by Gold Basis, but faltered when the real
racing began.

1934 _Lincoln Star_ (Neb.) 2 Feb. 6/5 A good many years ago Arthur told a
small group of us that his friends had never "pressured" him into
anything.

1934 _Washington Post_ 11 Aug. 9/3 One leading banker objected strongly to
having been pressured into selling the RFC $250,000 of preferred stock in
his bank.


*  pressure, v. 'press, force (something)'

1935 _New York Times_ 17 Nov. 27/1 The planned attempt more and more to
shift the tax burden for the support of the State government from special
privilege to the backs of men and women who live from the wages of their
labor, should be countered before more shifting is pressured into law.

1936 _Nevada State Journal_ 25 Jun. 12/2 (heading) Meanwhile Bill Green's
bill was pressured through Senate.


* pressured, ppl. a. 'pressurized' (and related senses)

1920 _Chicago Tribune_ 29 Mar. 5/5 When the tornado passes over the roof
of a house the higher pressured air inside explodes.

1928 _Los Angeles Times_ 13 Oct. II-2/8 As soon as the drill hole is made
the balls will be injected into the pressured casing and are expected to
be forced to the surface by the gas and clog there.

1942 _Los Angeles Times_ 27 Feb. A/2  On the other hand, if the cabin is
pressured, it is vulnerable to bullets.

1943 _Clearfield Progress_ (Pa.) 3 Jul. 2/5 Rubber experts say that tires
properly pressured at all times and never driven at excessive speed should
last as long as the car itself.

1944 _News_ (Frederick, Md.) 14 Feb. 8/5 At the height of the fire, while
firemen were attempting to carry out a gas range, a tank of pressured gas,
half buried at the corner of the cabin, exploded with a loud report,
shortly after the roof had caved in on it.

1944 _Berkshire Evening Eagle_ (Mass.) 22 Jun. 3/7 After many variations
Boeing settled on a device of tapping air for the cabin from an engine
pipe carrying pressured air to the carburetor.

1944 _New York Times_ 26 Jun. 23/8 Pressured cabins will permit
comfortable flying above bad weather at about four miles altitude.

1947 _New York Times_ 8 Jul. 29/3 Pressure-cooked beans kept 70 per cent
of their ascorbic acid, as did those that were steamed. ... As for the
color, the "pressured" beans were almost as green as when raw, while those
that were steamed or cooked in a snugly covered kettle lost most of their
green and became yellowish.


* pressured, ppl. a. '(of a person) under pressure; stressed' (OED2 1976)

1951 _Los Angeles Times_ 29 May II-5/6 Meantime, though, the reader will
have met ... the men who are so pressured that they are dishonest in spite
of themselves.

1952 _Chicago Tribune_ 7 Jun. 8/4 And so there's economic war / While each
the other passes, / With liquidation coming for / The pressured middle
classes.

1954 _Washington Post_ 27 Jun. (American Weekly) 9/1 In fact he's super
normal until pressured. And then he blows up.
[Humphrey Bogart on Captain Queeg]



--Ben Zimmer