pressure cooker

noun

1. A sealed cooking vessel that allows cooking in greater than atmospheric pressure and at a temperature above the boiling point of water.
2. A stressful situation that is liable to erupt.

   “Look, I had a pressure cooker of a job along with more responsibility that any one person should have. I had an office of twenty-five people under me all needing help like little birds in a nest.”

   “Wall Street hopes that economic deprivation will turn up the pressure cooker on internal relations.”