Repulsing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Acting to drive away or fend off something aggressively ; producing strong feelings of disgust or aversion
2. Serving to repel or force back an attacker or unwanted influence ; evoking a powerful sense of repugnance or dislike
3. Functioning to push away or reject strongly ; creating an emotional response of strong distaste or rejection

Etymology: "Repulsing" is the present participle of "repulse," and the verb's story runs back through a Latin verb meaning "to drive back." Latin "repellere" combined "re-" (back) with "pellere" (to drive or push), so the core idea is physical: pushing something away until it retreats. English took the word in two stages. Middle English borrowed the Latin past-participle form "repulsus" as "repulsen," a learned adoption, and the French noun "repulse" (from Latin "repulsa," in the phrase "repulsa petitio," a rejected request) arrived alongside it. The original sense was military and literal, and the "attacker" meaning in the current definition is the oldest thread. To repulse an enemy was to beat it back from a position. Over time the same verb stretched to cover rejection of a person or proposal, and the feeling of being pushed away, which is where the modern sense of "evoking repugnance" comes from. The physical push became an emotional one, so a rebuff and a disgusting smell can now be described with one verb.