Word.ws English Dictionary

press-gang

press-gang noun: a body of men employed to force others (impress them) into military service, especially naval service.

press-gang: a body of men employed to force others (impress them) into military service, especially naval...
Image: George Morland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

press-gang (plural press-gangs)

  1. A body of men employed to force others (impress them) into military service, especially naval service.
    • "If this is a press gang," Lyle remarked, "you should know that my diet is extremely poor, I'm too tall for trenches and I blow away in a light breeze."2021 March 14, HarryBlank, “Defence”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 25 Dec 2024
    Synonyms:
    press

Verb

press-gang (third-person singular simple present press-gangs, present participle press-ganging, simple past and past participle press-ganged)

  1. (transitive) To force (someone) into military or naval service.
    Synonyms:
    shanghai
  2. (transitive) To coerce (somebody) into doing something that they are reluctant to do.

press-gang meaning in Tamil and Odia

press-gang in Tamil

படைச்சேர்ப்புக்குழு

press-gang in Odia

press-gang
ବେଠିଆ beṭhiā

Synonyms of press-gang

Forms of press-gang

Noun
pluralpress-gangs
alternative formpressgang
alternative formpress gang
Verb
third-person singular presentpress-gangs
present participlepress-ganging
past participlepress-ganged
pastpress-ganged

Origin of press-gang

From press + gang.

Questions about press-gang

What does press-gang mean?
Press-gang means a body of men employed to force others (impress them) into military service, especially naval service.
What is press-gang in Tamil?
Press-gang in Tamil is படைச்சேர்ப்புக்குழு. See Press-gang meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is press-gang?
Press-gang can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of press-gang?
The plural of press-gang is press-gangs.

Words near press-gang in the dictionary

  1. press wheel
  2. press wheels
  3. press'd
  4. press-cake
  5. press-cakes
  6. press-gang
  7. press-ganged
  8. press-ganging
  9. press-gangs
  10. press-on
  11. press-to-talk

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: press-gang (page history and authors); press-gang (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ବେଠିଆ (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-press-gang.oga.

Cite this entry: “press-gang.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/press-gang. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.