Push

Part of speech: verb, noun

Pronunciation: /pʊʃ/

Definitions

1. To apply force against something in order to move it away from oneself or to cause forward motion
2. To exert pressure on an object or person to cause movement or action or to encourage effort or progress
3. To press against something so as to move it away or to advance an idea, effort, or cause

Etymology: The verb "push" arrived in English in the Middle Ages, borrowed from Middle French "pousser", and its ancestry runs back to a Latin verb meaning to beat or strike. Latin "pellere" meant to drive or thrust, and its frequentative form "pulsare" meant to beat repeatedly. That Latin verb passed through Old French "poulser" before becoming the French "pousser", and English took it up as "pushen", "poshen" or "posson". Words descended from the same Latin root, such as "pulsate" and "pulse", are doublets of the verb, meaning they came into English by a separate route and kept a related sense. The English word did not have the field to itself. Old English already had a verb "sċūfan", meaning to shove, and this native word was partly displaced by the French import. Its descendant "shove" survives in modern English, so the two words are essentially rivals that split the territory of pressing forward.

Synonyms: shove, thrust, press, propel, drive

Antonyms: pull, draw, retract, withdraw, release