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rusher

[ruhsh-er]
noun
  1. a person or thing that rushes.
  2. Football. a player whose assignment is to rush or whose special skill is rushing.
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Origin of rusher

1645–55; 1875–80 for def 2; rush1 + -er1

rush1

[ruhsh]
verb (used without object)
  1. to move, act, or progress with speed, impetuosity, or violence.
  2. to dash, especially to dash forward for an attack or onslaught.
  3. to appear, go, pass, etc., rapidly or suddenly: The blood rushed to his face.
  4. Football. to carry the ball on a running play or plays.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to perform, accomplish, or finish with speed, impetuosity, or violence: They rushed the work to make the deadline.
  2. to carry or convey with haste: to rush an injured person to the hospital.
  3. to cause to move, act, or progress quickly; hurry: He rushed his roommate to get to the party on time.
  4. to send, push, force, impel, etc., with unusual speed or haste: to rush a bill through Congress.
  5. to attack suddenly and violently; charge.
  6. to overcome or capture (a person, place, etc.).
  7. Informal. to heap attentions on; court intensively; woo: to rush an attractive newcomer.
  8. to entertain (a prospective fraternity or sorority member) before making bids for membership.
  9. Football.
    1. to carry (the ball) forward across the line of scrimmage.
    2. to carry the ball (a distance) forward from the line of scrimmage: The home team rushed 145 yards.
    3. (of a defensive team member) to attempt to force a way quickly into the backfield in pursuit of (the back in possession of the ball).
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noun
  1. the act of rushing; a rapid, impetuous, or violent onward movement.
  2. a hostile attack.
  3. an eager rushing of numbers of persons to some region that is being occupied or exploited, especially because of a new mine: the gold rush to California.
  4. a sudden appearance or access: a rush of tears.
  5. hurried activity; busy haste: the rush of city life.
  6. a hurried state, as from pressure of affairs: to be in a rush.
  7. press of work, business, traffic, etc., requiring extraordinary effort or haste.
  8. Football.
    1. an attempt to carry or instance of carrying the ball across the line of scrimmage.
    2. an act or instance of rushing the offensive back in possession of the ball.
  9. a scrimmage held as a form of sport between classes or bodies of students in colleges.
  10. rushes, Movies. daily(def 4).
  11. Informal. a series of lavish attentions paid a woman by a suitor: He gave her a big rush.
  12. the rushing by a fraternity or sorority.
  13. Also called flash. Slang. the initial, intensely pleasurable or exhilarated feeling experienced upon taking a narcotic or stimulant drug.
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adjective
  1. requiring or done in haste: a rush order; rush work.
  2. characterized by excessive business, a press of work or traffic, etc.: The cafeteria's rush period was from noon to two in the afternoon.
  3. characterized by the rushing of potential new members by a sorority or fraternity: rush week on the university campus.
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Origin of rush1

1325–75; (v.) Middle English ruschen < Anglo-French russher, russer, Old French re(h)usser, re(h)user, ruser < Late Latin recūsāre, to push back, Latin: to refuse. See recuse, ruse; (noun) Middle English rus(s)che, derivative of the v.
Related formsrush·ing·ly, adverbun·rushed, adjective

Synonyms

1. hasten, run. Rush, hurry, dash, speed imply swiftness of movement. Rush implies haste and sometimes violence in motion through some distance: to rush to the store. Hurry suggests a sense of strain or agitation, a breathless rushing to get to a definite place by a certain time: to hurry to an appointment. Dash implies impetuosity or spirited, swift movement for a short distance: to dash to the neighbor's. Speed means to go fast, usually by means of some type of transportation, and with some smoothness of motion: to speed to a nearby city.

Antonyms

18. sloth, lethargy.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for rusher

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • She has ideas,” said Jean, gravely; “she is a rusher into new things.

    Growing Up

    Jennie M. Drinkwater

  • Epworth had just enough energy to lift his foot and kick the rusher in the stomach.

    The Moon Colony

    William Dixon Bell

  • Designed by Cruikshank, and engraved by Branstone; published by Rusher about 1814.

    Banbury Chap Books

    Edwin Pearson

  • Rusher couldn't stand it to let another horse pass him on the road.

    The Bobbsey Twins

    Laura Lee Hope

  • He was a rusher and ran trains close, but he was ever watchful and wide awake.

British Dictionary definitions for rusher

rush1

verb
  1. to hurry or cause to hurry; hasten
  2. to make a sudden attack upon (a fortress, position, person, etc)
  3. (when intr , often foll by at, in or into) to proceed or approach in a reckless manner
  4. rush one's fences to proceed with precipitate haste
  5. (intr) to come, flow, swell, etc, quickly or suddenlytears rushed to her eyes
  6. slang to cheat, esp by grossly overcharging
  7. (tr) US and Canadian to make a concerted effort to secure the agreement, participation, etc, of (a person)
  8. (intr) American football to gain ground by running forwards with the ball
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noun
  1. the act or condition of rushing
  2. a sudden surge towards someone or somethinga gold rush
  3. a sudden surge of sensation, esp produced by a drug
  4. a sudden demand
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adjective (prenominal)
  1. requiring speed or urgencya rush job
  2. characterized by much movement, business, etca rush period
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Derived Formsrusher, noun

Word Origin

C14 ruschen, from Old French ruser to put to flight, from Latin recūsāre to refuse, reject

rush2

noun
  1. any annual or perennial plant of the genus Juncus, growing in wet places and typically having grasslike cylindrical leaves and small green or brown flowers: family Juncaceae Many species are used to make baskets
  2. any of various similar or related plants, such as the woodrush, scouring rush, and spike-rush
  3. something valueless; a trifle; strawnot worth a rush
  4. short for rush light
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Derived Formsrushlike, adjective

Word Origin

Old English risce, rysce; related to Middle Dutch risch, Norwegian rusk, Old Slavonic rozga twig, rod
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for rusher

rush

v.

mid-14c. (implied in rushing), "to drive back or down," from Anglo-French russher, from Old French ruser "to dodge, repel" (see ruse). Meaning "to do something quickly" is from 1650s; transitive sense of "to hurry up (someone or something)" is from 1850. U.S. Football sense originally was in rugby (1857).

Fraternity/sorority sense is from 1896 (originally it was what the fraternity did to the student); from 1899 as a noun in this sense. Earlier it was a name on U.S. campuses for various tests of strength or athletic skill between freshmen and sophomores as classes (1860).

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rush

n.1

"plant growing in marshy ground," Old English resc, earlier risc, from Proto-Germanic *rusk- (cf. Middle Low German rusch, Middle High German rusch, German Rausch, West Frisian risk, Dutch rusch), from PIE *rezg- "to plait, weave, wind" (cf. Latin restis "cord, rope").

Old French rusche probably is from a Germanic source. Used for making torches and finger rings, also strewn on floors when visitors arrived; it was attested a type of "something of no value" from c.1300. See OED for spelling variations.

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rush

n.2

"a hasty driving forward," late 14c., from rush (v.). Sense of "mass migration of people" (especially to a gold field) is from 1848, American English. Football/rugby sense from 1857. Meaning "surge of pleasure" is from 1960s. Rush hour first recorded 1888. Rush order from 1896.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
rusher in Medicine

Rush

(rŭsh)Benjamin 1745-1813
  1. American physician, politician, and educator. A signer of the Declaration of Independence, he promoted the humane treatment of the mentally ill.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Idioms and Phrases with rusher

rush

see bum's rush; fools rush in where angels fear to tread; mad rush; (rush) off someone's feet.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.