Op*pres"sion (?), n. [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.
© Webster 1913.