• IPA: /ɹʌʃ/

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

   • John Bull's friendship is not worth a rush.

4. A wick.

• French: jonc
• German: Binse
• Italian: giunco
• Portuguese: junco
• Russian: камыш
• Spanish: juncácea

• Italian: midollino

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.

2. A surge.

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

3. General haste.

   Many errors were made in the rush to finish.

4. A rapid, noisy flow.

   a rush of water;  a rush of footsteps

5. (military) A sudden attack; an onslaught.
6. (video games) The strategy of attacking an opponent with a large swarm of weak units, rather than spending time developing their abilities.

   Synonyms: zerg

7. (contact sports) The act of running at another player to block or disrupt play.

   a rush on the quarterback

8. (American football, dated) A 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.

10. (US, figuratively) A regulated period of recruitment in fraternities and sororities.

    rush week

11. (US, dated, college slang) A perfect recitation.
12. (croquet) A roquet in which the object ball is sent to a particular location on the lawn.

• German: Vorwärtsstürmen
• Russian: бросо́к
• Spanish: acometida

• Russian: прили́в

• French: hâte
• German: Eile, Hast
• Italian: fretta
• Portuguese: pressa
• Russian: спе́шка
• Spanish: prisa

• Russian: напо́р
• Spanish: tromba

• Russian: на́тиск

• German: Rausch
• Spanish: subidón

rush (rushes, present participle rushing; past and past participle rushed)

1. (transitive or intransitive) To hurry; to perform a task with great haste.

   rush one's dinner;   rush off an email response

   • They […] never think it to be a part of religion to rush into the office of princes and ministers.

2. (intransitive) To flow or move forward rapidly or noisily.

   armies rush to battle;   waters rush down a precipice.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: Printed [by John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938 ↗, book II, canto IX, stanza 14, page 311 ↗:

     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.

   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iii]:

     Like to an entered tide, they all rush by.

   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The Merry VViues of VVindsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene iv], page 56 ↗, column 1:

     [V]pon a sudden#English|ſodaine, / As Falſtaffe, ſhe, and I, are newly met, / Let them [children dressed like "urchins, ouphe#English|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: {{...}

3. (intransitive, football) To dribble rapidly.
4. (transitive or intransitive, contact sports) To run directly at another player in order to block or disrupt play.
5. (transitive) To cause to move or act with unusual haste.

   Don't rush your client or he may withdraw.

6. (intransitive, military) To make a swift or sudden attack.
7. (military) To swiftly attack without warning.
8. (video games, slang, transitive) To attack (an opponent) with a large swarm of units.

   Synonyms: zerg

9. (transitive or intransitive, US, college) To attempt to join a fraternity or sorority; to undergo hazing or initiation in order to join a fraternity or sorority.
10. (transitive) To transport or carry quickly.

    The shuttle rushes passengers from the station to the airport.

11. (transitive or intransitive, croquet) To roquet an object ball to a particular location on the lawn.
12. (US, slang, dated) To recite (a lesson) or pass (an examination) without an error.

• See also Thesaurus:rush (hurry)

• French: dépêcher, hâter
• German: hetzen, beeilen, eilen, flitzen; übereilen (to perform with great haste)
• Portuguese: apressar-se
• Russian: спеши́ть
• Spanish: correr, apurarse

• German: rauschen
• Russian: хлы́нуть

• German: hetzen
• Russian: торопи́ть

• German: überfallen

rush (not comparable)

1. Performed with, or requiring urgency or great haste, or done under pressure.

   a rush job

1. Surname for someone who made things from rushes.
2. A coastal town in Fingal, Dublin.
3. An unincorporated community in El Paso County, Colorado.
4. An unincorporated community in Boyd County, and.
5. A town in Monroe County, New York.

1. (computing) A dialect of the programming language PL/I.