Oppress

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To impose excessive burdens upon; to overload; hence, to treat with unjust rigor or with cruelty. Wyclif. For thee, oppressèd king, am I cast down. Shak. Behold the kings of the earth; how they oppress Thy chosen ! Milton.

2. To ravish; to violate. [Obs.] Chaucer.

3. To put down; to crush out; to suppress. [Obs.] The mutiny he there hastes to oppress. Shak.

4. To produce a sensation of weight in (some part of the body); as, my lungs are oppressed by the damp air; excess of food oppresses the stomach.