HIGH-PRESSURE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of High-pressure

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/haɪ-prˈɛʃər/ Listen

adjective

High-pressure adj.

Having or involving a pressure greatly exceeding that of the atmosphere; said of steam, air, water, etc., and of steam, air, or hydraulic engines, water wheels, etc.

Fig.: Urgent; intense; as, a high-pressure business or social life.

Using intense psychological pressure or other incentives to convince others to do things; aggressively persistent; as, high-pressure salesmen; high-pressure tactics.

High-pressure engine, an engine in which steam at high pressure is used. It may be either a condensing or a noncondensing engine. Formerly the term was used only of the latter. See Steam engine.

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Etymology of 'High-pressure'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"High-pressure" Quotes from Famous Books

... matter. It is perhaps the greatest definition ever uttered. It is absolutely universal in its application, and it recurs now, remembering Mark Twain's profanity. For it was rarely misplaced; hence it did not often offend. It seemed, in fact, the safety-valve of his high-pressure intellectual engine. When he had blown off he was always calm, gentle; forgiving, and even tender. Once following an outburst ...

— Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete - The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens • Albert Bigelow Paine

... Kardiometer, or heart-measurer, graduated emotion, and pinched by scale. At its best it was by no means a high-pressure engine. But all is relative. Denys soon learned the tender gamut; and when to water the suspense, and extract the thrill as far as possible. On one occasion only he cannily indemnified his narrative for this drawback. Falling personally ...

— The Cloister and the Hearth • Charles Reade

... Ap-Llymry's cap, having lappets over the ears, which were united under the chin, setting forth especially whether the bond of union were a pin or a ribbon? We shall leave this tempting field of interesting expatiation to those whose brains are high-pressure steam-engines for spinning prose by the furlong, to be trumpeted in paid-for paragraphs in the quack's corner of newspapers: modern literature having attained the honourable distinction of sharing, with blacking and Macassar ...

— Crotchet Castle • Thomas Love Peacock

... Mr. Birdsall's stentorian voice. Tobe tiptoed to the spot, and, in wrath that he deemed righteous, blended with not a little exultation, looked upon Uncle Sheba. His head had fallen on his bosom, and from his nose were proceeding sounds which would put to shame a high-pressure engine. Aun' Sheba was shaking him on one side and Kern Watson on the other. Audible snickering was general, but this soon gave way to alarm as Aun' Sheba exclaimed aloud, "He's dun gwine an' ...

— The Earth Trembled • E.P. Roe

... which they stood was crowded with men of all nations, whose excited looks, and tones, and "go-ahead" movements, testified to the high-pressure speed with which business in San Francisco ...

— The Golden Dream - Adventures in the Far West • R.M. Ballantyne

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