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Definition of "press-gang" [press-gang]

  • To force into military or naval service. (verb-transitive)
  • To force or coerce: "press-ganging a consumer into buying something he doesn't want” ( Feona McEwan). (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "press-gang" in a sentence
  • "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?"
  • "Used as press-gang hounds by the Terran Exploitations Company."
  • "Not to be deterred, Andrew managed to press-gang a substitute."