thrust

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To push or drive quickly and forcibly. See Synonyms at push.
2. v. To issue or extend: poplars thrusting their branches upward; thrust out his finger.
3. v. To force into a specified condition or situation: She thrust herself through the crowd. He was thrust into a position of awesome responsibility.
4. v. To include or interpolate improperly.
5. v. To force on an unwilling or improper recipient: "Some have greatness thrust upon them” ( Shakespeare).
6. v. Archaic To stab; pierce.
7. v. To shove something into or at something else; push.
8. v. To pierce or stab with or as if with a pointed weapon.
9. v. To force one's way.
10. n. A forceful shove or push.
11. n. A driving force or pressure.
12. n. The forward-directed force developed in a jet or rocket engine as a reaction to the high-velocity rearward ejection of exhaust gases.
13. n. A piercing movement made with or as if with a pointed weapon; a stab.
14. n. The essence; the point: The whole thrust of the project was to make money.
15. n. Architecture Outward or lateral stress in a structure, as that exerted by an arch or vault.
16. n. An attack or assault, especially by an armed force.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In geology, a compressive strain in the crust of the earth, which, in its most characteristic development, produces reversed or thrust faults.
2. n. In marine engineering, the force exerted endwise on a propeller shaft to drive a vessel ahead. An indicated thrust is a flctitious thrust which would be exerted if the whole indicated horse-power of the engine was used to drive the vessel ahead at a speed equivalent to the rate of advance of the screw turning in a solid block instead of in water. An effective thrust is the real thrust equal to the resistance which the vessel opposes to motion through the water.
3. n. Abbreviation of thrust-bearing, thrust-block, or thrust-box.
4. n. See the extract.
5. To push forcibly; shove; force: as, to thrust a hand into one's pocket, or one's feet into slippers; to thrust a stick into the sand: usually followed by from, in, off, away, or other adverb or preposition.
6. Figuratively, to drive; force; compel.
7. To press; pack; jam.
8. To stab; pierce.
9. To protrude; cause to project.
10. To push forward; advance, in space or time.
11. To stick out; protrude.
12. To force out.
13. Synonyms Thrust is stronger. more energetic, than push or drive, and represents a more dignified act than shove. No other distinction really exists among these words.
14. To push or drive with or as with a pointed weapon.
15. To push one's self; force a way or passage.
16. To crowd, or assemble in crowds; press in; throng.
17. To rush; make a dash.
18. n. A violent push or drive, as with a pointed weapon pushed in the direction of its length, or with the hand or foot, or with an instrument; a stab; as a term of fence, in general, any attack by a fencer with a point. With reference to the saber, broadsword, and other cut-and-thrust weapons, it distinguishes the use of the point from a blow or cut, and is less important than in small-sword and foil work, where the point alone is used. In fencing thrusts are always made by extending the arm before moving the foot or body.
19. n. Attack; assault.
20. n. In mech., the stress which acts between two contiguous bodies, or parts of a body, when each pushes the other from itself. A thrust tends to compress or shorten each body on which it acts in the direction of its action.
21. n. In coal-mining, a crushing of the pillars caused by excess of weight of the superincumbent rocks, the floor being harder than the roof. It is nearly the same as creep, except that in the latter the workings are disorganized by the upheaval of the floor, which, being softer than the roof, is first to yield to the pressure.
22. n. The white whey which is the last to leave the curd under pressure.
23. n. An obsolete or dialectal form of thirst.
24. n. See thurse and thrush.

Wiktionary

1. n. fencing An attack made by moving the sword parallel to its length and landing with the point.
2. n. A push, stab, or lunge forward (the act thereof.)
3. n. The force generated by propulsion, as in a jet engine.
4. n. figuratively The primary effort; the goal.
5. v. intransitive To make advance with force.
6. v. transitive To force something upon someone.
7. v. transitive To push out or extend rapidly or powerfully.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. obsolete Thrist.
2. v. To push or drive with force; to drive, force, or impel; to shove.
3. v. To stab; to pierce; -- usually with through.
4. v. To make a push; to attack with a pointed weapon.
5. v. To enter by pushing; to squeeze in.
6. v. To push forward; to come with force; to press on; to intrude.
7. n. 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.
8. n. An attack; an assault.
9. n. (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.
10. n. (Mining) The breaking down of the roof of a gallery under its superincumbent weight.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. make a thrusting forward movement
2. n. the act of applying force to propel something
3. v. place or put with great energy
4. v. penetrate or cut through with a sharp instrument
5. n. a sharp hand gesture (resembling a blow)
6. v. push forcefully
7. v. force (molten rock) into pre-existing rock
8. n. the force used in pushing
9. n. a strong blow with a knife or other sharp pointed instrument
10. n. verbal criticism
11. v. impose urgently, importunately, or inexorably
12. v. press or force
13. v. push upward