urge
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ɜːd͡ʒ/
  • (GA) IPA: /ɝd͡ʒ/
Noun

urge (plural urges)

  1. A strong desire#Noun|desire; an itch#Noun|itch to do something.
Translations Verb

urge (urges, present participle urging; past and past participle urged)

  1. (transitive) To press#Verb|press; to push#Verb|push; to drive#Verb|drive; to impel; to force#Verb|force onward.
  2. (transitive) To press the mind#Noun|mind or will#Noun|will of; to ply with motives, arguments, persuasion, or importunity.
    • c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, 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 II, scene ii], lines 51–57, page 345 ↗, column 2:
      You do miſtake your buſines, my Brother neuer / Did vrge me in his Act : I did inquire it, / And haue my Learning from ſome true reports / That drew their ſwords with you, did he not rather / Diſcredit my authority with yours, / And make the warres alike againſt my ſtomacke, / Hauing alike your cauſe.
  3. (transitive) To provoke; to exasperate.
  4. (transitive) To press hard upon; to follow closely.
    • Man ? and for ever ? wretch ! what wouldst thou have ? / Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.
  5. (transitive) To present#Verb|present in an urgent manner; to insist upon.
    to urge an argument; to urge the necessity of a case
    • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter X, in Mansfield Park: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Printed for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 39810224 ↗, page 222 ↗:
      To be urging her opinion against Sir Thomas's, was a proof of the extremity of the case, but such was her horror at the first suggestion, that she could actually look him in the face and say she hoped it might be settled otherwise; in vain however; {{...}
  6. (transitive, obsolete) To treat#Verb|treat with forcible means; to take severe or violent measures with.
    to urge an ore with intense heat
  7. (transitive) To press onward or forward.
  8. (transitive) To be pressing in argument; to insist; to persist.
Synonyms Related terms Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations


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