pressure cooker

American  

Or pressure-cooker

noun

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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Etymology

Origin of pressure cooker

First recorded in 1910–15

Example Sentences

The piñas must get to a pressure cooker within 24 hours, where the sugars can be extracted.

From BBC • Jun. 11, 2026

"It becomes a kind of pressure cooker," she explains.

From BBC • May 16, 2026

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

From MarketWatch • Mar. 13, 2026

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

The women were cooking and I could smell onions frying already, could hear the phht-phht of a pressure cooker, music, laughter.

From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini