Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various grasslike wetland plants of the genus Juncus, having stiff hollow or pithy stems and small usually clustered brownish flowers.
  • noun Any of various similar plants, such as a bulrush.
  • noun The stem of one of these plants, used in making baskets, mats, and chair seats.
  • intransitive verb To move swiftly; hurry.
  • intransitive verb To act with great haste.
  • intransitive verb To make a sudden or swift attack or charge.
  • intransitive verb To flow or surge rapidly, often with noise.
  • intransitive verb Football To advance the ball or attempt to advance the ball from scrimmage by carrying it rather than passing.
  • intransitive verb To cause to move rapidly.
  • intransitive verb To cause to act with haste.
  • intransitive verb To perform with great haste.
  • intransitive verb To attack swiftly and suddenly.
  • intransitive verb To transport or carry hastily.
  • intransitive verb To entertain or pay great attention to.
  • intransitive verb Football To run toward (a passer or kicker) in order to block or disrupt a play.
  • noun A sudden movement toward something.
  • noun An anxious and eager movement to get to or from a place.
  • noun A sudden widespread demand.
  • noun General haste or busyness.
  • noun A sudden attack; an onslaught.
  • noun A rapid, often noisy flow or passage.
  • noun A large or overwhelming number or amount.
  • noun An attempt to advance the ball from scrimmage by carrying it.
  • noun An act of running at a passer or kicker in order to block or prevent a play.
  • noun Sports A rapid advance of the puck toward the opponent's goal in ice hockey.
  • noun The first, unedited print of a movie scene.
  • noun A drive by a Greek society on a college campus to recruit new members.
  • noun A surge or release of emotion: synonym: flow.
  • noun A sudden, brief exhilaration.
  • noun The intensely pleasurable sensation experienced immediately after use of a stimulant or a mind-altering drug.
  • adjective Performed with or requiring great haste or urgency.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To move or drive forward with impetuosity, violence, or tumultuous rapidity.
  • To move or act with undue eagerness, or without due deliberation and preparation; hurry: as, to rush into business or politics.
  • In foot-ball, to fill the position of a rusher.
  • To take part in a college rush. See rush, n., 5.
  • To cause to rush; cause to go swiftly or violently; drive or thrust furiously; hence, to force impetuously or hastily; hurry; overturn.
  • Specifically In foot-ball, to force by main strength toward the goal of one's opponents: said of the ball.
  • To secure by rushing.
  • To cause to hasten; especially, to urge to undue haste; drive; push.
  • In rowing, to come forward too fast; to rush the slide.
  • To surround with many attentions and entertain often: as, to rush a girl; to rush a man for a fraternity.
  • noun A driving forward with eagerness and haste; a motion or course of action marked by violent or tumultuous haste: as, a rush of troops; a rush of winds.
  • noun An eager demand; a run.
  • noun In foot-ball, a play by which one of the contestants forces his way with the ball through the line of his opponents toward their goal.
  • noun A very successful passing of an examination, or a correct recitation.
  • noun A scrimmage between classes or bodies of students. such as occurs at some American colleges.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English rysc.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English rushen, from Anglo-Norman russher, variant of Old French ruser, to drive back, from Latin recūsāre, to reject : re-, re- + causārī, to give as a reason (from causa, cause).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English rusch, risch, from Old English rysc, risc, from Proto-Germanic *ruskijō (compare West Frisian risk, Dutch rus ‘bulrush’, Norwegian dialect ryskje ‘hair-grass’), from Proto-Indo-European *resg- ‘to plait, wattle’ (compare Irish rusg ‘bark’, Latin restis ‘rope’, Latvian režģis ‘basketwork’, Albanian rrush ("grapes"), Serbo-Croatian rògoz ‘reed’, Ancient Greek ἄρριχος (arrikhos, "basket"), Persian raɣza ‘woollen cloth’).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English ruschen, russchen ("to rush, startle"), from Old English hryscan, hrȳscan ("to jolt, startle"), from Proto-Germanic *hruskijanan (“to startle, drive”), *hruskanan, *hurskanan (“to be quick, be clever”), from Proto-Indo-European *kors- (“to run, hurry”). Cognate with Old High German hurscan ("to speed, accelerate"), Old English horsc ("quick, quick-witted, clever"). More at hurry. Perhaps related to Albanian rash ("I fell, precipitate").

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Examples

  • At nine, sharp to the tick of the clock, the _rush, rush, rush_ of a field battery's shells passed overhead.

    Action Front Boyd Cable 1910

  • When DePo says we don’t want to rush any pitchers up to the big club it’s code for *we don’t really have anyone to rush*

    Please Help, My Shortstop Is Broken 2008

  • Even the term "rush hour" is a misnomer, since when we are sitting in one we certainly are not rushing anywhere!

    Thestar.com - Home Page Ian Law 2011

  • We blow the vuvuzela because we get an adrenalin rush from the creative noise it makes.

    Global Voices in English » South Africa: To vuvuzela or not to vuvuzela? 2009

  • (Of course the endorphin rush from the large amount of caspaicin in the chili peppers didn't hurt either!)

    Archive 2008-04-01 Sarah Lenz 2008

  • (Of course the endorphin rush from the large amount of caspaicin in the chili peppers didn't hurt either!)

    A Proustian Moment with Pad Thai Sarah Lenz 2008

  • COCHRAN: Well, it's difficult because, you know, there's, you know, everybody -- I don't want to use the term rush to judgment -- everybody assumes the husband is the suspect and is probably guilty.

    CNN Transcript Nov 11, 2003 2003

  • As he worked, he spoke softly of "chi," which he described as the rush of numbness or warmth when the needle hits the spot, and "shen men," a point in the ear connected to anxiety and stress.

    Can Needles Soothe Wounded Warriors? Michael M. Phillips 2011

  • Dr. Anna Pou urged supporters to remember the storm's victims, and to ensure medical workers are not falsely accused in what she calls a rush to judgment.

    CNN Transcript Jul 24, 2007 2007

  • Sarah Palin, who had been silent for days, on Wednesday issued a forceful denunciation of her critics in a video statement that accused pundits and journalists of "blood libel" in what she called their rush to blame heated political rhetoric for the shootings in Arizona.

    NYT > Home Page By MICHAEL D. SHEAR 2011

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  • "MYRRHINA: Where does he dwell, the beautiful young hermit who will not look at the face of woman? Has he a house of reeds or a house of burnt clay or does he lie on a hillside? Or does he make his bed in the rushes?"

    - Oscar Wilde, 'La Sainte Courtisane'.

    June 6, 2009