under pressure

under pressure

1. Literally, forced through or into some vessel with great compressive force. The contents of this container are under pressure, so do no pierce it or expose it to fire or you could risk triggering an explosion. Crude oil underneath the ground can be under intense pressure, which is why it can erupt into a geyser when drilled into directly.
2. (While) facing or enduring a great amount of stress caused by some compelling or constraining influence. I can't talk now, I'm under pressure to get this done before the end of the day! Sorry, I'm just under so much pressure at work that it's made me rather irritable.
See also: pressure
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

*under pressure

 
1. and *under a deadline; *under the gun (about something) Fig. facing or enduring something such as pressure or a deadline. (*Typically: be ~; get ~.) I have to get back to work. I am under a deadline. I am under a lot of pressure lately. The management is under the gun for the mistakes made last year.
2. [of a gas or liquid] being forced, squeezed, or compressed. (*Typically: be ~; deliver something ~; put something ~.) The gas in the pipes leading to the oven are under pressure.
See also: pressure
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

under ˈpressure


1 if a liquid or a gas is kept under pressure, it is forced into a container so that when the container is opened, the liquid or gas escapes quickly
2 being forced to do something: The director is under increasing pressure to resign.
3 made to feel anxious about something you have to do: The team performs well under pressure.
See also: pressure
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • grow out of
  • grow out of (something)
  • bubble over
  • overflow with
  • empty out
  • dump out
  • brim with (something)
  • brimming with
  • boil down
  • serve in
References in classic literature
She had told me, bit by bit, under pressure, a great deal; but a small shifty spot on the wrong side of it all still sometimes brushed my brow like the wing of a bat; and I remember how on this occasion--for the sleeping house and the concentration alike of our danger and our watch seemed to help-- I felt the importance of giving the last jerk to the curtain.
Turn Of The Screw
Additionally, cooking foods under pressure equals quicker preparation.
Pressure cookers
UNDER PRESSURE A galaxy can get gutted in two ways.
Bare-naked galaxies: in cosmic slam dances, some galaxies run out of gas
In this new process, a closed system sets the melt under pressure, providing the operator with direct control over the melt's flow rate and the ability to elicit a quick response to the pressure to begin filling.
New Filling/Feeding Process Produces Vertically-Parted Aluminum Green Sand Castings
The mold is held closed with the sample under pressure until sufficient time has elapsed for vulcanization.
The preform is a volume of rubber designed to fill the reservoir for transfer to a mold under pressure. In an injection molding machine an extruder is mated with a reservoir and mold.
The extruder is designed so that a piston or a reciprocating screw can be advanced under pressure to precisely fill the runner and mold cavities.
Rubber testing for injection molding
Additionally, cooking foods under pressure makes for quicker preparation.
Pressure cookers
Researchers instead must rely on physical inferences and mathematical extrapolations that are based on more readily measurable properties of the materials under pressure. Debates about the merits and pitfalls of different clibration methods are endemic to high-pressure research.
Unworldy pressures: scientists put the supersqueeze on gases, metals and minerals
Castings produced when molten metal solidifies between die halves under pressure are said to be squeeze cast.
Permanent molding casts for larger market
While it is still too early in the game to say which of these ideas is correct, Wong and his colleagues have at least taken a first step toward elucidating the behavior of isolated membranes and anesthetics under pressure. Writing in a recent (Dec.
Putting the squeeze on anesthetics
Cohen, calculated what would happen to it under pressure.
Early results show that under pressure silicon becomes a superconductor at a temperature of 5 kelvins.
Superconducting silicon