pressure cooker
3
3.3
- noun
- /ˈprɛʃər ˈkʊkər/
:
situación de alta presión
- On an afternoon when the intensity of every single pitch built to an all-time high, there was no greater pressure cooker than the top of the ninth inning.
- pressure cooker job
- pressure cooker life
Examples
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So our English class was really the doctor's weekly refuge from the oppressive social pressure cooker he inhabited most of his waking hours.
Blog text (22) -
I can understand how folks stuck in the pressure cooker in such an abusive environment might grasp at such straws, but it won't work.
Blog text (5) -
But it's a pressure cooker going into that first round game against Iona.
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So I haven't really felt the pressure cooker that the college application process can be.
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All the talk about faculty competition and what a pressure cooker it is kind of pales in the harsh light of these crimes.
Blog text (24) -
Med school is a pressure cooker—I know, I went through it.
Blog text (11) -
The chef used a pressure cooker to prepare dinner in a fraction of the time it would normally take.
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In the pressure cooker of the competitive job market, many graduates feel overwhelmed by stress.
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Her project became a pressure cooker of deadlines and expectations as the final presentation approached.
Antonyms
How Stressful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun is compositionally built: 'pressure' modifies 'cooker', so a cooker that uses pressure (a sealed pot) is directly inferable from the constituent meanings. The figurative use (a stressful situation) is likewise a clear metaphorical extension of the literal image, and the compound follows a productive, cross-linguistic pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Pressure cooker is also used as a metaphor from the same picture: steam builds up in a closed pot until it becomes very hot and might burst. That's why people call a place or time a pressure cooker when it is full of 'intense stress' and everyone feels close to breaking.