The act of seizing for public use, or of impressing into public service; compulsion to serve; as, the impressment of provisions or of sailors.
Applied to seaman, sea-faring men, and persons whose occupations were to work in vessels and boats upon rivers. Landsmen were impressed, but usuallly released. The majority of sailors, however, volunteered.
The act of seizing people or property for public service or use
The act or practice of forcing men into military service, or seizing property for public service or use.
The British navy used press gangs to commandeer manpower for naval service. During the Napoleonic Wars British captains impressed seamen from neutral vessels, even naturalized American citizens. America's sense of national honor was outraged and impressment became a cause of war in 1812.
Impressment (colloquially, "press-ganging") is the act of conscripting people to serve in the military or navy. It was used by the Royal Navy during the 18th century and early 19th century in time of war as a means of crewing warships, although legal sanction for the practice goes back to the time of King Edward I. The Royal Navy impressed many British merchant sailors, as well as some sailors from other nations.