shove

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"We believe GE's preference when push comes to shove is to maintain the dividend, even at the expense of the AAA," she wrote in a Jan. 21 research note.

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Definitions (30)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. transitive verb To push forward or along.
  2. transitive verb To push rudely or roughly. See Synonyms at push.
  3. intransitive verb To push someone or something with force.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (16)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • He grunted, and when she came for the second boot, his shove was a bit harder, sending her nearly toppling when the boot came off in her hands. —  Johanna Lindsey - Tender Rebel
  • If Alex had not returned the shove, as he admitted on his show, he would have had grounds for pressing charges which would have reflected poorly on Michelle. —  Alex Jones' Prison Planet.com
  • But when push comes to shove, the government will have no choice but to hyperinflate its way out of financial obligations, thereby rendering all currently-held U.S. dollars to be virtually worthless. —  Anarchist news dot org - News for anarchists and their friends
  • "Obviously we talked to him about it and when push came to shove, these last few games here we thought Jaffray and Bolduc were a little bit better." —  Waiting For Stanley
  • Actually, field-dressing a moose takes three people: one to do the actual hacking and slashing, one to push, shove, and hold legs, and one to stand there with a serious rifle waiting for a bear to show up. —  David E. Petzal - The Gun Nut
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

swipe ·  tug ·  nudge ·  slap ·  jab ·  jerk ·  push ·  shake ·  kick ·  hug ·  twitch ·  yank

Used in the same contextWord Family

shove:   shoved ·  shoving ·  shoves
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English shoven, from Old English scūfan.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English shoven, schoven, shoofen, ssofen (weak verb, preterit shovede), usually schouven, showven (strong verb, preterit shof, past participle shoven, shove), from Anglo-Saxon scofian (weak verb, preterit scofode), usually scūfan (strong verb. preterit sceáf, plural scufon, past participle scofen) =OFries. skūva =D. schuiven =Middle Low German schuven =Old High German sciupan, sceopan, Middle High German G. schieben =Icelandic skūfa, sky¯fa =Swedish skuffa =Danish skubbe =Goth, skiuban, shove; allied to Sanskrit √ kshubh, become agitated, in causal form agitate, shake, impel; cf. Lithuanian skubti, hasten, Old Bulgarian skubati, pull, pluck. Hence ult. shove, sheaf, scuffle, shuffle.
  2. from Middle English shoffe (=Swedish skuff =Danish skub); from shove, v.
 

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/ʃəv/
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