shove

[shuhv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shove ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), shoved, shov·ing.

to move along by force from behind; push.

to push roughly or rudely; jostle.

Slang: Often Vulgar. to go to hell with: Voters are telling Congress to shove its new tax plan.

verb (used without object), shoved, shov·ing.

to push.

noun

an act or instance of shoving.

Verb Phrases

shove off,

to push a boat from the shore.
Informal.to go away; depart: I think I'll be shoving off now.

Idioms

shove it, Slang: Often Vulgar. (used to express contempt or belligerence): I told them to take the job and shove it.Also stick it.

shove it up your/one's ass, Slang: Vulgar. go to hell: a term of contempt, abuse, disagreement, or the like.Also stick it up your/one's ass.

when/if push comes to shove. push(def 35).

Origin of shove

before 900; (v.) Middle English schouven, Old English scūfan; cognate with Dutch schuiven, obsolete German schauben, Old Norse skūfa; akin to Gothic -skiuban; (noun) Middle English scou, derivative of the v.

Related formsshov·er, nounun·shoved, adjective

shove

[shohv]

noun

boon³.

Origin of shove

apparently variant of shive²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for shove

poke, nudge, dig, elbow, thrust, cram, jab, hustle, shoulder, jam, bulldoze, crowd, propel, buck, drive, impel, jostle, press, prod, boost

Examples from the Web for shove

Contemporary Examples of shove

The four of them move to the boat, right it, balance the mattress across its bow and shove it towards the water.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq
Nathan Bradley Bethea
August 31, 2014
The era of singers telling loser boyfriends to shove off and demanding more from men was over.
Beyoncé Is Our Indigo Girl: The Halcyon '90s and Feminism's Resurgence in Pop Music
Amanda Marcotte
August 26, 2014
When push comes to shove, the pressure of staving off Ghana, Portugal, and Germany fell on Howard.
Team USA Lost, but Tim Howard Is a Winner
Emily Shire
July 1, 2014
He tries to shove his relationship with Amia into a box and that box explodes in his face.
Louie’s Elevator Romance: Can Love Exist Without Sex?
Amanda Marcotte
May 30, 2014
This is power politics, I knew, and push would eventually and inevitably come to shove.
Republicans for More Fat Kids
Michael Tomasky
May 28, 2014

Historical Examples of shove

He then told me to shove off, which I did without waiting for a second order.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper
With one shove the zinc-worker made his way through the crowd.
L'Assommoir
Emile Zola
For a while, it was kick backwards, then a shove at the safe.
The Einstein See-Saw
Miles John Breuer
Well, shove in quinine, and keep him quiet, with hot bottles to his feet.
The Burning Spear
John Galsworthy
Edward tumbled into the bottom of the boat, gasping, "Shove her off!"
The Golden Age
Kenneth Grahame

British Dictionary definitions for shove

shove

verb

to give a thrust or push to (a person or thing)

(tr) to give a violent push to; jostle

(intr) to push one's way roughly

(tr) informal to put (something) somewhere, esp hurriedly or carelesslyshove it in the bin

noun

the act or an instance of shoving

Word Origin for shove

Old English scūfan; related to Old Norse skūfa to push, Gothic afskiuban to push away, Old High German skioban to shove

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 shove

Old English scufan "push away, thrust, push with violence" (class II strong verb; past tense sceaf, past participle scoven), from Proto-Germanic *skeub-, *skub- (cf. Old Norse skufa, Old Frisian skuva, Dutch schuiven, Old High German scioban, German schieben "to push, thrust," Gothic af-skiuban), from PIE root *skeubh- "to shove" (cf. scuffle, shuffle, shovel; likely cognates outside Germanic include Lithuanian skubti "to make haste," skubinti "to hasten"). Related: Shoved; shoving.

Replaced by push in all but colloquial and nautical usage. Shove off "leave" (1844) is from boating. Shove the queer (1859) was an old expression for "to counterfeit money." Shove it had an earlier sense of "depart" before it became a rude synonym for stick it (by 1941) with implied destination.

c.1300; see shove (v.).

Idioms and Phrases with shove

shove

see push comes to shove; push (shove) off; ram (shove) down someone's throat; stick (shove) it.