"press-gang" meaning in English

See press-gang in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-us-press-gang.oga Forms: press-gangs [plural]
Etymology: From press + gang. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|press|gang}} press + gang Head templates: {{en-noun}} press-gang (plural press-gangs)
  1. A body of men employed to force others (impress them) into military service, especially naval service. Categories (topical): Collectives, Military Synonyms: press#Noun Related terms: impressment, draft board, King's shilling, take the shilling
    Sense id: en-press-gang-en-noun-5vfU~brN Disambiguation of Collectives: 44 25 32 Disambiguation of Military: 45 55 0 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Mandarin translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 22 41 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 45 25 30 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 43 25 33 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 49 18 33 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 39 27 34 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 42 26 32 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 39 27 34 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 43 26 31 Disambiguation of Terms with Mandarin translations: 44 22 34
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pressgang, press gang

Verb

Audio: En-us-press-gang.oga Forms: press-gangs [present, singular, third-person], press-ganging [participle, present], press-ganged [participle, past], press-ganged [past]
Etymology: From press + gang. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|press|gang}} press + gang Head templates: {{en-verb}} press-gang (third-person singular simple present press-gangs, present participle press-ganging, simple past and past participle press-ganged)
  1. To force (someone) into military or naval service. Categories (topical): Military Synonyms: shanghai Translations (to force into military service): мобилизирам принудително (mobiliziram prinuditelno) (Bulgarian), 拉丁 (lādīng) (Chinese Mandarin), 强征入伍 (Chinese Mandarin), 抓壮丁 (Chinese Mandarin), 抓丁 (Chinese Mandarin), 拉夫 (lāfū) (Chinese Mandarin), ronselaarsbende (Dutch), zwangsrekrutieren (German)
    Sense id: en-press-gang-en-verb-u0JsviHX Disambiguation of Military: 45 55 0 Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English entries with incorrect language header, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Finnish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 22 41 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 39 27 34 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 39 27 34 Disambiguation of 'to force into military service': 89 11
  2. To coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do. Translations (to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do): pakkovärvätä (Finnish), shanghaijata (Finnish), zwingen (German)
    Sense id: en-press-gang-en-verb-~MX-KJzH Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English entries with incorrect language header, Terms with Bulgarian translations, Terms with Finnish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 37 22 41 Disambiguation of Terms with Bulgarian translations: 39 27 34 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 39 27 34 Disambiguation of 'to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do': 3 97
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pressgang, press gang

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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          "ref": "2021 March 14, HarryBlank, “Defence”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-12-25:",
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          "impress",
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          "word": "draft board"
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          "word": "King's shilling"
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          "word": "take the shilling"
        }
      ],
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          "word": "press#Noun"
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          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "bg",
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          "roman": "mobiliziram prinuditelno",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "мобилизирам принудително"
        },
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          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "lādīng",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "拉丁"
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          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "强征入伍"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "抓壮丁"
        },
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          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "抓丁"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "cmn",
          "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
          "roman": "lāfū",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "拉夫"
        },
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          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "ronselaarsbende"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "89 11",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to force into military service",
          "word": "zwangsrekrutieren"
        }
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          "text": "Coordinate term: railroad"
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        "To coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do."
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          "_dis1": "3 97",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do",
          "word": "pakkovärvätä"
        },
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          "_dis1": "3 97",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do",
          "word": "shanghaijata"
        },
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          "_dis1": "3 97",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do",
          "word": "zwingen"
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      ]
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      "word": "take the shilling"
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          "ref": "2021 March 14, HarryBlank, “Defence”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-12-25:",
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        "To force (someone) into military or naval service."
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  "synonyms": [
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      "word": "press gang"
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      "code": "bg",
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      "roman": "mobiliziram prinuditelno",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "мобилизирам принудително"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "lādīng",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "拉丁"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "强征入伍"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "抓壮丁"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "抓丁"
    },
    {
      "code": "cmn",
      "lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
      "roman": "lāfū",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "拉夫"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "ronselaarsbende"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to force into military service",
      "word": "zwangsrekrutieren"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do",
      "word": "pakkovärvätä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do",
      "word": "shanghaijata"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do",
      "word": "zwingen"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "press-gang"
  ],
  "word": "press-gang"
}

Download raw JSONL data for press-gang meaning in English (5.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-10 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (df33d17 and 4ed51a5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.