Pressed on in dire trouble (6)
I believe the answer is:
ironed
'pressed' is the definition.
(ironing is a kind of pressing)
'on in dire trouble' is the wordplay.
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'trouble' is an anagram indicator.
'dire' is an anagram of 'ired'.
'on' put into 'ired' is 'IRONED'.
(Other definitions for ironed that I've seen before include "Made smooth, shirt or collar" , "flattened" , "Had an evening out" , "Got rid of creases" , "Smoothed the cloth with heat" .)