Definition of "pressgangs" []

• Plural form of pressgang. (noun)

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• "Republicans didn't abandon their fevered dreams of Maoist pressgangs when the Clinton Administration happened to spend more time rescuing the President's and his wife's career from the worse angels of his limbic system than rounding up subscribers to Combat Handguns and Redbook; they just told and retold the tales of that period as though the pressgangs and rounding-up had actually happened -- hence, George W. Bush."
• "The pressgangs were now set vigorously to work, and, though there was a constant drain of desertions to contend with, the numbers on board the ships at Chatham and in the lower Thames rose day by day."
• "The pressgangs brought in poor creatures whom the captains described as a useless rabble."