2. To ravish; to violate. [Obs.] Chaucer.
3. To put down; to crush out; to suppress. [Obs.] The mutiny he there hastes to oppress. Shak.
4. To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.
OPPRESSION
Op*pres"sion, n. Etym: [F., fr. L. oppressio.]
1. The act of oppressing, or state of being oppressed.
2. That which oppresses; a hardship or injustice; cruelty; severity; tyranny. "The multitude of oppressions." Job xxxv. 9.
3. A sense of heaviness or obstruction in the body or mind; depression; dullness; lassitude; as, an oppression of spirits; an oppression of the lungs. There gentlee Sleep First found me, and with soft oppression seized My drowsed sense. Milton.
4. Ravishment; rape. [Obs.] Chaucer.
OPPRESSIVE
Op*press"ive, a. Etym: [Cf. F. oppressif.]
1. Unreasonably burdensome; unjustly severe, rigorous, or harsh; as, oppressive taxes; oppressive exactions of service; an oppressive game law. Macaulay.