( press-gangs, press-ganging, press-ganged)
1.
If you are press-ganged into doing something, you are made or persuaded to do it, even though you do not really want to. ( mainly BRIT )
I was press-ganged into working in that business...
She was a volunteer, she hadn’t had to be press-ganged.
= force
VERB : usu passive , be V-ed into -ing / n , be V-ed
2.
If people are press-ganged , they are captured and forced to join the army or navy. ( mainly BRIT )
They left their villages to evade being press-ganged into the army...
The government denies that the women were press-ganged.
VERB : usu passive , be V-ed into n , be V-ed
• press-ganging
...the press-ganging of young people into the country’s armed forces.
N-SING : the N of n
3.
In former times, a press-gang was a group of men who used to capture boys and men and force them to join the navy.
N-COUNT