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Origin and history of depress

depress(v.)

late 14c., "put down by force, conquer," a sense now obsolete, from Old French depresser "to press down, lower," from Late Latin depressare, frequentative of Latin deprimere "press down," from de "down" (see de-) + premere "to press, hold fast, cover, crowd, compress" (from PIE root *per- (4) "to strike").

Meaning "push down physically, press or move downward" is from early 15c.; that of "deject, make gloomy, lower in feeling" is from 1620s; economic sense of "lower in value" is from 1878.

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to depress

depressant(n.)

"a sedative," 1876; see depress + -ant. From 1887 as an adjective, "having the quality of depressing."

depressed(adj.)

c. 1600, "pressed down, lowered," past-participle adjective from depress (v.). Meaning "dejected, lowered in spirits" is from 1620s.

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depression
c. 1400 as a term in astronomy, "angular distance of a star below the horizon," from Old French depression (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin depressionem (nominative depressio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin deprimere "to press down, depress" (see depres
deject
early 15c., dejecten, "to throw or cast down," a sense now obsolete, from Latin deiectus "a throwing down, felling, fall," past participle of deicere "to cast down, destroy; drive out; kill, slay, defeat," from de- "down" (see de-) + -icere, combining form of iacere "to throw" (f
dismay
c. 1300, dismaien, "become or be alarmed, upset, or frightened; to confound, break down the courage of by danger or difficulty or fear of calamity, fill with despairing apprehension;" perhaps formed in Anglo-French or Middle English from dis-, here probably intensive (see dis-),
abase
Literal sense of "lower, depress" (late 15c.) is archaic or obsolete. Related: Abased; abasing....
button
A button as a round protuberance you depress to create an effect by closing an (electrical) circuit is attested from 1840s...
dismal
gloomy, dreary, cheerless," and was used to describe physical surroundings, sounds, or anything else felt as tending to depress...
lower
c. 1600, "descend, sink, grow less or lower" (intransitive), from lower (adj.), comparative of low (adj.). Transitive meaning "let down, cause to descend" attested from 1650s. Related: Lowered; lowering. In the transitive sense "to cause to descend" the older verb was low (Middle
change
c. 1200, "to alter, make different, change" (transitive); early 13c. as "to substitute one for another;" mid-13c. as "to make (something) other than what it was, cause to turn or pass from one state to another;" from late 13c. as "to become different, be altered" (intransitive),
modify
late 14c., modifien, "alter, amend, adjust, change the properties, form, or function of;" also "set limits, keep within the bounds of reason; choose a middle course," from Old French modifier (14c.), from Latin modificare "to limit, measure off, restrain," from modus "measure, ma
chill
Middle English chele, from Old English ciele (West Saxon), cele (Anglian) "cold, coolness, chill, frost, sensation of suffering from cold, sensation of cold experienced in illness," from Proto-Germanic *kal- "to be cold," from PIE root *gel- "cold; to freeze." In modern use perha

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