rush

plural rushes

1. A sudden forward motion.

   A gentleman of his train spurred up his horse, and, with a violent rush, severed him from the duke.

   1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers

   1 more example

   When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.

   1963, Margery Allingham, “Meeting Point”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 228

   Synonyms: flush

2. A surge.

   A rush of business can be difficult to handle effectively for its unexpected volume.

   1 more example

   It's a rush / To find someone before the sun comes up / To find someone before the beat is gone / Don't wanna leave all alone / Everybody scrambled to the floor once more

   1983, Ashford & Simpson, “Side Effect”, in High-Rise (album)

   Synonyms: flush

3. General haste.

   Many errors were made in the rush to finish.

   1 more example

   Diane makes an announcement to the patient passengers on the quarter-full train. There is no sense of rush - time really does move more slowly in the Highlands. The passengers, nearly all tourists, don't seem in the slightest bothered.

   2023 November 29, Paul Clifton, “West is best in the Highlands”, in RAIL, number 997, page 38

4. A rapid, noisy flow.

   a rush of water; a rush of footsteps

5. governmentA sudden attack; an onslaught.
6. video gamesThe strategy of attacking an opponent with a large swarm of weak units, rather than spending time developing their abilities.

   Synonyms: zerg

7. contact sportsThe act of running at another player to block or disrupt play.

   a rush on the quarterback

8. datedAmerican footballA rusher; a lineman.

   the center rush, whose place is in the center of the rush line

9. A sudden, brief exhilaration, for instance the pleasurable sensation produced by a stimulant.

   The rollercoaster gave me a rush.

   1 more example

   She felt the familiar cocaine rush soon after injecting herself.

10. university slangA regulated period of recruitment in fraternities and sororities.

    rush week

    2 more examples

    The trend burst through last week during sorority rush at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, but it continues today in the form of parody videos, deep dives on the status of various recruits and rush videos from women at other colleges across the country who are just starting the process themselves.

    2021 August 17, Allie Jones, “#BamaRush, Explained”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 21 Aug 2021

    […]daily “OOTDs” (outfits of the day), rush recap videos from freshly tanned and coiffed prospective new members (PNMs), and reactions to 18-year-old girls either elated or devastated by the high-stakes game of likability that is rush.

    2023 May 24, Adrian Horton, “‘Competitive femininity’: inside the wild and secretive world of sororities”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2023

11. university slangA person attempting to join a fraternity or sorority as part of a rush.

    At the end of rush, the fraternities vote on who they want to extend invitations to join, and the rushes can then make their selection from the bids they get. Some rushes get bids from multiple fraternities, while others do not get bids from any.

    2011 September 15, Abe Gutierrez, “To Rush Or Not To Rush: A Crash Course From A Brother Who Likes It”, in NYU Local, archived from the original on 09 Apr 2026

    1 more example

    After a few rounds of these competitions, the rushes that survive to the end get a "bid." Again, kind of like an auction. They don’t come in nice envelopes like sororities, though. Usually what happens is that they put the rushes in a room individually and tell them they didn’t get the bid, to see how sad they get. If they get really sad, the fraternity brothers come to the room and congratulate them on being accepted to the fraternity. Then, the rushes become pledges.

    2017 February 8, Youngweon Lee, “The Fraternity Rush Process As Told By Someone Who Knows Nothing About The Fraternity Rush Process”, in Bwog, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2022

12. USdateduniversity slangA perfect recitation.
13. croquetA roquet in which the object ball is sent to a particular location on the lawn.

present singular third person rushes · participle present rushing · participle past rushed · past rushed

1. intransitivetransitiveTo hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully.

   rush one's dinner; rush off an email response

   1 more example

   Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.

   2013 August 16, John Vidal, “China and India 'water grab' dams put ecology of Himalayas in danger”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2021, page 8

2. intransitiveTo flow or move forward rapidly or noisily.

   armies rush to battle; waters rush down a precipice.

   5 more examples

   For with ſuch puiſſance and impetuous maine / Thoſe Champions broke on them, that forſt the fly, / Like ſcattered Sheepe, whenas the Shepherds ſwaine / A Lyon and a Tigre doth eſpye, / With greedy pace forth ruſhing from the foreſt nye.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 311

   [V]pon a ſodaine, / As Falſtaffe, ſhe, and I, are newly met, / Let them [children dressed like "urchins, ouphes and fairies"] from forth a ſaw-pit ruſh at once / With ſome diffuſed ſong: Vpon their ſight / We two, in great amazedneſſe will flye: […]

   c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 56, column 1

   Like to an entred Tyde, they all ruſh by,[…]

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], column 1

   A party of men[…] shoud be ready to rush out; and upon the noise of the first shot immediately run down to the Gate and break in.

   c. 1683, Robert West, The further Exmaination of Robert West of the Middle-Temple, Barrister at Law

   The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.

   1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid

3. intransitiveball gamesTo dribble rapidly.
4. intransitivetransitivecontact sportsTo run directly at another player in order to block or disrupt play.
5. transitiveTo cause to move or act with unusual haste.

   Don't rush your client or he may withdraw.

6. intransitivegovernmentTo make a swift or sudden attack.
7. transitivegovernmentTo swiftly attack without warning.

   A detachment of cavalrymen rushed the enemy's position.

8. slangtransitivevideo gamesTo attack (an opponent) with a large swarm of units.

   Synonyms: zerg

9. transitiveTo transport or carry quickly.

   The shuttle rushes passengers from the station to the airport.

   2 more examples

   The harvest is now in full swing in the Great Plains and efforts are being made to rush the grain from the fields to the country elevators and then to the large terminals, such as Kansas City, Houston, Galveston and New Orleans.

   1964 June 16, “Surprise Strike Stops Traffic On 6 Railroads”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 3

   Seeing the swelling and thinking that acute radiation damage had set in at a cellular level, Bugorski sought the help of the facility’s medical team. They rushed him to Hospital Number 6, which is where they handled radiation patients.

   2026 May 6, Nicholas Muhoro, “Anatoli Bugorski Survived a 1978 Proton Beam to the Head and Kept Working Like Nothing Happened”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 11 May 2026

10. intransitivetransitivecroquetTo roquet an object ball to a particular location on the lawn.
11. intransitivetransitiveuniversity slangTo attempt to join a fraternity or sorority, often involving a hazing or initiation process.
12. USdatedslangTo recite (a lesson) or pass (an examination) without an error.
13. intransitiveentertainmentTo play at a faster tempo than one is supposed to or than the other musicians one is playing with, or to inadvertently gradually increase tempo while one is playing.

    Antonyms: drag

1. not comparablePerformed with, or requiring urgency or great haste, or done under pressure, especially if therefore done badly.

   a rush job

plural rushes

1. Any of several stiff plants of the genus Juncus, or the family Juncaceae, having hollow or pithy stems and small flowers, and often growing in marshes or near water.

   Synonyms: juncus

2. The stem of such plants used in making baskets, mats, the seats of chairs, etc.
3. The merest trifle; a straw.

   [W]hat occaſion haſt thou to give up Eccleſdoun-Caſtle to John Bull? his Friendſhip is not vvorth a Ruſh, give it me and I'll make it vvorth the vvhile.

   1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “The Rest of Nic’s Fetches to Keep John out of Ecclesdoun-Castle”, in Lewis Baboon Turned Honest, and John Bull Politician. Being the Fourth Part of Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 32

4. A wick.

plural Rushs · plural Rushes

1. A surname
   1. countableuncountableA surname from English
   2. countableuncountableAn English surname originating as an occupation for someone who made things from rushes.
   3. countableuncountableA surname from Irish
   4. countableuncountableA surname from German
2. countableuncountableA male given name.
3. A placename:
   1. countableuncountableA coastal town in Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in El Paso County, Colorado, United States.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Boyd County and Carter County, Kentucky, United States.
   4. countableuncountableA town in Monroe County, New York, United States.
   5. countableuncountableA number of townships, in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, United States, listed under Rush Township.
   6. abbreviationcountableellipsisuncountableEllipsis of Rush County.

1. computingA dialect of the programming language PL/I.