thrust Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the force used in pushing
    push.
    • the push of the water on the walls of the tank
    • the thrust of the jet engines
  2. noun a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument
    knife thrust; stab.
    • one strong stab to the heart killed him
  3. noun the act of applying force to propel something
    driving force; drive.
    • after reaching the desired velocity the drive is cut off
  4. noun verbal criticism
    • he enlivened his editorials with barbed thrusts at politicians
  5. noun a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)
    poke; thrusting; poking; jabbing; jab.
    • he warned me with a jab with his finger
    • he made a thrusting motion with his fist
  6. verb push forcefully
    • He thrust his chin forward
  7. verb press or force
    squeeze; stuff; shove.
    • Stuff money into an envelope
    • She thrust the letter into his hand
  8. verb make a thrusting forward movement
    lunge; hurtle; hurl.
  9. verb impose urgently, importunately, or inexorably
    force.
    • She forced her diet fads on him
  10. verb penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument
    pierce.
  11. verb force (molten rock) into pre-existing rock
  12. verb push upward
    push up.
    • The front of the trains that had collided head-on thrust up into the air
  13. verb place or put with great energy
    throw.
    • She threw the blanket around the child
    • thrust the money in the hands of the beggar

WordNet

Thrust noun & verb
Definitions
  1. Thrist. Obs. Spenser.
Thrust transitive verb
Etymology
OE. rusten, risten, resten, Icel. rst to thrust, press, force, compel; perhaps akin to E. threat.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Thrust ; present participle & verbal noun Thrusting
Definitions
  1. To push or drive with force; to drive, force, or impel; to shove; as, to thrust anything with the hand or foot, or with an instrument.
    Into a dungeon thrust, to work with slaves. Milton.
  2. To stab; to pierce; -- usually with through.
Thrust intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make a push; to attack with a pointed weapon; as, a fencer thrusts at his antagonist.
  2. To enter by pushing; to squeeze in.
    And thrust between my father and the god. Dryden.
  3. To push forward; to come with force; to press on; to intrude. "Young, old, thrust there in mighty concourse." Chapman.
    As doth an eager hound Thrust to an hind within some covert glade. Spenser.
Thrust noun
Definitions
  1. A violent push or driving, as with a pointed weapon moved in the direction of its length, or with the hand or foot, or with any instrument; a stab; -- a word much used as a term of fencing.
    [Polites] Pyrrhus with his lance pursues, And often reaches, and his thrusts renews. Dryden.
  2. An attack; an assault.
    One thrust at your pure, pretended mechanism. Dr. H. More.
  3. (Mech.) The force or pressure of one part of a construction against other parts; especially (Arch.), a horizontal or diagonal outward pressure, as of an arch against its abutments, or of rafters against the wall which support them.
  4. (Mining) The breaking down of the roof of a gallery under its superincumbent weight. Syn. -- Push; shove; assault; attack. Thrust, Push, Shove. Push and shove usually imply the application of force by a body already in contact with the body to be impelled. Thrust, often, but not always, implies the impulse or application of force by a body which is in motion before it reaches the body to be impelled.

Webster 1913