elbow
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɛlbəʊ/
ipa: [ˈæwbɐw]
ipa: /ˈɛlboʊ/
ipa: [ˈɛɫboʊ]
rhymes: -ɛlbəʊ
Forms: form: elbows
form: elbowing
form: elbowed
form: elbowed
Etymology: From Middle English elbowe, from Old English elboga, elnboga (“elbow”), from Proto-Germanic *alinabugô (“elbow”), equivalent to ell + bow. Cognate with Scots elbuck (“elbow”), Saterland Frisian Älbooge (“elbow”), Dutch elleboog (“elbow”), Low German Ellebage (“elbow”), German Ellbogen, Ellenbogen (“elbow”), Danish albue (“elbow”), Icelandic olbogi, olnbogi (“elbow”).
Senses: examples: text: He elbowed his way through the crowd.
text: Through the crush Malone and Roxton elbowed their way until they reached Challenger's side, and partly by judicious propulsion, partly by artful persuasion, they got him, still bellowing his grievances, out of the building.
ref: 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
text: On the DLR, or on the driverless Line 14 on the Paris Metro, I always try to sit at the front. (It's usually just a matter of elbowing aside some ten-year-old boys; I can then get on with pretending to drive the train.)
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 277:
glosses: To push with the elbow or elbows; to forge ahead using the elbows to assist.
examples: text: Trumper elbowed me in the ribs and made a sign with his head. He seemed irritated now by our delay.
ref: 1953, George Lamming, In the Castle of My Skin, McGraw Hill Books Company, Inc., published 1954, page 166:
text: She looked round for Vera, but could not see her, and in the process of wriggling through the heaving crowd was elbowed in the eye. The blow acted like a spur, putting one thought in her head … to escape.
ref: 1975, Marjorie Darke, A Question of Courage, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Kestrel Books, →ISBN, page 108:
text: Anyway, Margret is already asleep. I put my head on the pillow and am just about to inch warmth-seekingly closer to her when she suddenly elbows me full in the face with stupefying force. My howl of pain wakes her and she glances over her shoulder at her elbow, still embedded in my skull.
ref: 2001 November 24, Mil Millington, “Things my girlfriend and I argue about”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 10 Feb 2021:
text: Green also left the game in the first quarter after Xavier Tillman inadvertently elbowed him in the face. Hearing boos from the crowd, [Draymond] Green raised his middle fingers toward the fans as he left the court to get stitches above his right eye.
ref: 2022 May 4, Tania Ganguli, “Against Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors Feel Range of Emotions”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Dec 2022:
glosses: To strike with the elbow.
examples: text: Suddenly and with all her heart Kate longed to be home, back at the homestead, to participate in the rambunctious toss and jostle as breakup elbowed its way into the Park.
ref: 1993, Dana Stabenow, A Fatal Thaw, →ISBN, page 105:
glosses: To nudge, jostle or push.
examples: text: The president was elbowed out of power by members of her own party.
glosses: To force (someone) to quit or lose their job so that someone else can be hired.
raw_tags: with "out" or "aside"
Derived terms: elbower