rush
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹʌʃ/
homophone: Rush
rhymes: -ʌʃ
Forms: form: rushes
form: rushing
form: rushed
form: rushed
Etymology: Perhaps from Middle English ruschen, russchen (“to rush, startle, make a loud rushing noise”), from Old English hrysċan (“to jolt, startle”), from Proto-West Germanic *hurskijan, from Proto-Germanic *hurskijaną (“to startle, drive”), from *hurskaz (“fast, rapid, quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers- (“to run, hurry”).
Cognate with Old High German hursken (“to hurry, speed, incite, accelerate”), Old English horsċ (“quick, quick-witted, clever”), Old Frisian rosk, rosch (“quick, rapid, sudden”).
etymology note
An alternative etymology traces rush via Middle English ruschen (“to rush”) from Old English *rūscian (“to rush”) from Proto-Germanic *rūskōną (“to rush, storm, be fierce, be cruel”), a variant (with formative k) of Proto-Germanic *rūsōną (“to be cruel, storm, rush”) from Proto-Indo-European *(o)rewə- (“to drive, move, agitate”), making it akin to Old High German rosc, rosci (“quick”), Middle Low German rûschen (“to rush”), Middle High German rūschen, riuschen (“to rush”) (German rauschen (“to rush”)), North Frisian ruse (“to rush”), Middle Dutch ruuscen (“to make haste”), Middle Dutch rūsen (“to rush”) (Dutch ruisen (“to rush”)), Danish ruse (“to rush”), Swedish rusa (“to rush”). Compare Middle High German rūsch (“a charge, rush”). Influenced by Middle English russhen (“to force back”) from Anglo-Norman russher, russer from Old French ruser, rëuser.
Alternatively, according to the OED, perhaps an adaptation of Anglo-Norman russher, russer (“to force back, down, out of place, by violent impact", "to pull out or drag off violently or hastily”), from Old French re(h)usser, ruser (although the connection of the forms with single -s- and double -ss- is dubious; also adopted in English ruse; French ruser (“to retreat, drive back”)), from an assumed Vulgar Latin *refūsāre and Latin refundō (“I cause to flow back”), although connection to the same Germanic root is also possible. More at rouse.
Senses: examples: text: rush one's dinner; rush off an email response
text: Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.
ref: 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:
glosses: To hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully.
examples: text: armies rush to battle; waters rush down a precipice.
text: For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311:
text: [V]pon a ſodaine, / As Falſtaffe, ſhe, and I, are newly met, / Let them [children dressed like "urchins, ouphes and fairies"] from forth a ſaw-pit ruſh at once / With ſome diffuſed ſong: Vpon their ſight / We two, in great amazedneſſe will flye: […]
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 56, column 1:
text: Like to an entred Tyde, they all ruſh by,[…]
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], column 1:
text: A party of men[…] shoud be ready to rush out; and upon the noise of the first shot immediately run down to the Gate and break in.
ref: c. 1683, Robert West, The further Exmaination of Robert West of the Middle-Temple, Barrister at Law:
text: The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
ref: 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
text: I remember the sudden drop in the note of the station bell, as we roar through, perhaps with 16 coaches; sweep up to milepost 9½, and then, with increasing thunder from the exhaust, fairly rush the fells at Milnthorpe at the foot of the climb to Grayrigg, until the steady thunderous beat re-echoes past Mosedale Hall, still at 40 m.p.h.
ref: 1955 April, W. J. Alcock, “Unforgettable Moments”, in Railway Magazine, page 271:
glosses: To flow or move forward rapidly or noisily.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
soccer
sports
glosses: To dribble rapidly.
qualifier: contact sports
glosses: To run directly at another player in order to block or disrupt play.
examples: text: Don't rush your client or he may withdraw.
glosses: To cause to move or act with unusual haste.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To make a swift or sudden attack.
examples: text: A detachment of cavalrymen rushed the enemy's position.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To swiftly attack without warning.
topics: video-games
synonyms: zerg
glosses: To attack (an opponent) with a large swarm of units.
examples: text: The shuttle rushes passengers from the station to the airport.
text: The harvest is now in full swing in the Great Plains and efforts are being made to rush the grain from the fields to the country elevators and then to the large terminals, such as Kansas City, Houston, Galveston and New Orleans.
ref: 1964 June 16, “Surprise Strike Stops Traffic On 6 Railroads”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 3:
glosses: To transport or carry quickly.
qualifier: croquet
glosses: To roquet an object ball to a particular location on the lawn.
qualifier: university slang
glosses: To attempt to join a fraternity or sorority, often involving a hazing or initiation process.
glosses: To recite (a lesson) or pass (an examination) without an error.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
antonyms: drag
glosses: To play at a faster tempo than one is supposed to or than the other musicians one is playing with, or to inadvertently gradually increase tempo while one is playing.
Synonyms: word: fly
word: get a move on
word: hasten
word: haul
word: hurtle
word: bustle
word: haul ass
word: haul one's ashes
word: hie
word: hump it
word: hurry
word: hustle
word: make haste
word: make tracks
word: move it
word: rattle one's hocks
word: rush
word: scream
word: shift
word: skedaddle
word: swap
word: speed
word: zip
word: zoom
Hyponyms: word: blitz
word: bomb it
word: cane
word: cane it
word: hoon
word: hoon it
word: race
word: scurry
word: vamoose
Derived terms: bum-rush
downrush
rusher
rush in
rushing
rush off
rush out
rush to judgement
Related terms: word: quickly
word: reckless
word: speed up
word: speedy