pressure cooker

American  

Or pressure-cooker

noun

• pressure cookers
  plural

1. a reinforced pot, usually of steel or aluminum, in which soups, meats, vegetables, etc., may be cooked quickly in heat above boiling point by steam maintained under pressure.

2. any situation, job, assignment, etc., in which a person is faced with urgent responsibilities or demands by other people, constant deadlines, or a hectic work schedule.

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pressure cooker British  

noun

1. a strong hermetically sealed pot in which food may be cooked quickly under pressure at a temperature above the normal boiling point of water

2. informal a trainee student attending a shortened qualifying course

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pressure cookers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pressure cooker

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pressure cooker

But there was, indeed, a brief aperture of time in the pressure cooker of 2020 when it all seemed possible.

From Slate ● Aug. 17, 2026

Tax preparation is a seasonal business — and a hectic pressure cooker.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026

Alicia describes the panto experience as a "little pressure cooker" as they're up against tight turnarounds and short runs.

From BBC ● Dec. 30, 2025

Shale drillers have turned the biggest oil field in the U.S. into a pressure cooker that is literally bursting at the seams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

Mr. Chris had to check on them, he said, before they could be sent into town to the restaurant man who canned them with a pressure cooker.

From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen