pushing

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of push

comparative more pushing · superlative most pushing

1. That pushes forward; pressing, driving.

   1 more example

   There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy. […] Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place. Pushing men hustle each other at the windows of the purser's office, under pretence of expecting letters or despatching telegrams.

   1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC

2. archaicAggressively assertive; pushy.

   Mrs. Erlynne, a pushing nobody, with a delightful lisp and Venetian-red hair[…]

   1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter XV, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

plural pushings

1. The act by which something is pushed.

   We were soon separated by the pushings and shovings of the crowd.