• IPA: /ɹʌʃ/

From Middle English risshe, rusch, risch, from Old English rysċ, rysċe, risċ, risċe, from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *riskijā, from Proto-Indo-European *(H)resg- and Proto-West Germanic *ruskijā, borrowed from Latin rūscum, of unknown origin + *-jā.

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.

   (plant of the genus Juncus) Synonyms: juncus

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

     [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.

4. A wick.

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

• Italian: midollino

Perhaps from Middle English ruschen, russchen, from Old English hrysċan, from Proto-West Germanic *hurskijan, from Proto-Germanic *hurskijaną, from *hurskaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱers-.

Cognate with Old High German hursken, Old English horsc.

An alternative etymology traces rush via Middle English rouschen from Old English *rūscian from Proto-Germanic *rūskōną, a variant (with formative k) of Proto-Germanic *rūsōną from Proto-Indo-European *(o)rewə-, making it akin to Old High German rosci, Middle Low German rūschen, Middle High German ruschen (German rauschen), Northern Frisian ruse, Middle Dutch ruuscen, Middle Dutch rusen (Dutch ruisen), Danish ruse, Swedish rusa.

Alternatively, according to the OED, perhaps an adaptation of Anglo-Norman - russher, russer ("to force back, down, out of place, by violent impact", "to pull out or drag off violently or hastily"), from Old French rehusser, ruser (although the connection of the forms with single -s- and double -ss- is dubious; also adopted in English ruse; French ruser ("to retreat, drive back")), from an assumed Vulgar Latin *refūsāre and Latin refundō ("I cause to flow back"), although connection to the same Germanic root is also possible.

rush (plural rushes)

1. A sudden forward motion.
   • 1642, Henry Wotton, A Short View of the Life and Death of George Villiers:

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

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

     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.

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.

   She felt the familiar cocaine rush soon after injecting herself.

10. (college slang) A regulated period of recruitment in fraternities and sororities.

    rush week

11. (college slang) A person attempting to join a fraternity or sorority as part of a rush.
12. (US, dated, college slang) A perfect recitation.
13. (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

• Russian: раш

• German: Rausch
• Spanish: subidón

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

1. (transitive or intransitive) To hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully.

   rush one's dinner;   rush off an email response

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

   armies rush to battle;   waters rush down a precipice.

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

     [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. 1602, 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:

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

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

     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.

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) To transport or carry quickly.

   The shuttle rushes passengers from the station to the airport.

10. (transitive or intransitive, croquet) To roquet an object ball to a particular location on the lawn.
11. (transitive or intransitive, college slang) To attempt to join a fraternity or sorority, often involving a hazing or initiation process.
12. (US, slang, dated) To recite (a lesson) or pass (an examination) without an error.
13. (intransitive, music) To 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

• See also Thesaurus:rush (hurry)

• French: dépêcher, hâter
• German: hetzen, beeilen, eilen, flitzen; übereilen (to perform with great haste)
• Italian: affrettarsi, correre
• 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, especially if therefore done badly.

   a rush job

• As an English surname, from the noun rush.
• Also as an English surname, from the archaic noun rush, from French ruche.
• As an Irish - surname, from Ó Ruis, a name from ros.
• Also as an Irish surname, translated/Anglicized from Ó Fuada, compare Foody, from the noun fuad.
• As a German - surname, Americanized from Rüsch, Ruesch, Rusch.

1. Surname for someone who made things from rushes.
2. A placename
   1. A coastal town in Fingal, Dublin.
   2. An unincorporated community in El Paso County, Colorado.
   3. An unincorporated community in Boyd County, and.
   4. A town in Monroe County, New York.
   5. A number of townships, in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Pennsylvania, USA, listed under Rush Township.
   6. Ellipsis of Rush County

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