Word: push Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English pushen, poshen, posson, borrowed from Middle French pousser (Modern French pousser) from Old French poulser, from Latin pulsare (“to beat, strike”), frequentative of pellere (past participle pulsus). Doublet of pulsate and pulse (verb). Partly displaced native Old English sċūfan, whence Modern English shove. Pronunciation: /pʊʃ/, [pʷʊʃ], /pʉʃ/, [puʃ] 1. To apply a force to (an object) such that it moves away from the person or thing applying the force. Labels: intransitive, transitive Example: In his anger he pushed me against the wall and threatened me. Example: You need to push quite hard to get this door open. 2. To continually attempt to persuade (a person) into a particular course of action. Labels: transitive Example: We are pushed for an answer. Example: December 22, 1711, letter to The Spectator Ambition […] pushes the soul to such actions as are apt to procure honour and reputation to the actor. 3. To press or urge forward; to drive. Labels: transitive Example: to push an objection too far; to push one's luck Example: to push his fortune 4. To continually promote (a point of view, a product for sale, etc.). Labels: transitive Example: Stop pushing the issue — I'm not interested. Example: They're pushing that perfume again. 5. To continually exert oneself in order to achieve a goal. Labels: intransitive Example: Don't think that if you keep pushing harder and harder, it will make you succeed faster or earn more. 6. To approach; to come close to. Labels: informal, participle, present, regional, transitive Example: My old car is pushing 250,000 miles. Example: He's pushing sixty. 7. To tense the muscles in the abdomen in order to give birth or defecate. Labels: intransitive Example: During childbirth, there are times when the obstetrician advises the woman not to push. Example: “Pushing will be easy,” the nurse told me after I’d arrived at the hospital, […]. “For someone like you, you’ll be done in 30 minutes.” Instead, I pushed for four hours, ripping the muscle between my ass and my vagina in the process. 8. To continue to attempt to persuade a person into a particular course of action. Labels: intransitive 9. To make a higher bid at an auction. 10. To make an all-in bet. 11. To move (a pawn) directly forward. Labels: transitive 12. To add (a data item) to the top of a stack. Example: When the microprocessor decodes the JSR opcode, it stores the operand into the TEMP register and pushes the current contents of the PC ($00 0128) onto the stack. 13. To publish (an update, etc.) by transmitting it to other computers. Example: Because this version of the Windows Installer is aware of the GAC, it has the capability to publish components into it. […] You can manually or programmatically push an assembly into the GAC by using the command-line tool Gacutil.exe. 14. To thrust the points of the horns against; to gore. Labels: obsolete Example: If the ox shall push a manservant or maidservant, […] the ox shall be stoned. 15. To burst out of its pot, as a bud or shoot. 16. To strike the cue ball in such a way that it stays in contact with the cue and object ball at the same time (a foul shot).