Английский Этимологический словарь - press (1)

- "push against," early 14c., from O.Fr. preser, from L. pressare "to press," frequentive of pressus, p.p. of premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress," from PIE *prem-/*pres- "to strike." The obsolete noun meaning "crowd, multitude" is older in Eng. (12c.); sense of "urgency" (now mostly in adj. pressing, 1705) is late 14c. Meaning "machine for printing" is 1535, on notion of "squeezing" (e.g. winepress), from M.Fr. presse. It began to be extended to publishing houses 1579, and generalized to journalism (in phrases like freedom of the press) c.1680.