Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To push or drive quickly and forcefully: synonym: push.
  • intransitive verb To cause to project or extend.
  • intransitive verb To force into a specified condition or situation.
  • intransitive verb To force or impose on an unwilling or improper recipient.
  • intransitive verb Archaic To stab; pierce.
  • intransitive verb To shove something into or at something else.
  • intransitive verb To grow or extend upwards.
  • intransitive verb To force one's way; press forward.
  • noun A forceful shove or push.
  • noun A lunge or stab.
  • noun A driving force or pressure.
  • noun The forward-directed force developed in a jet or rocket engine as a reaction to the high-velocity rearward ejection of exhaust gases.
  • noun Outward or lateral stress in a structure, as that exerted by an arch or vault.
  • noun The essential meaning; the point.
  • noun The central purpose or objective.
  • noun A forceful movement, especially an advance or attack by an armed force.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun 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.
  • noun Attack; assault.
  • noun In mech., the stress which acts between two contiguous bodies, or parts of a body, when each pushes the other from itself.
  • noun In coal-mining, a crushing of the pillars caused by excess of weight of the superincumbent rocks, the floor being harder than the roof.
  • noun The white whey which is the last to leave the curd under pressure.
  • noun An obsolete or dialectal form of thirst.
  • 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.
  • Figuratively, to drive; force; compel.
  • To press; pack; jam.
  • To stab; pierce.
  • To protrude; cause to project.
  • To push forward; advance, in space or time.
  • To stick out; protrude.
  • To force out.
  • 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.
  • To push or drive with or as with a pointed weapon.
  • To push one's self; force a way or passage.
  • To crowd, or assemble in crowds; press in; throng.
  • To rush; make a dash.
  • noun In geology, a compressive strain in the crust of the earth, which, in its most characteristic development, produces reversed or thrust faults.
  • noun In marine engineering, the force exerted endwise on a propeller shaft to drive a vessel ahead.
  • noun Abbreviation of thrust-bearing, thrust-block, or thrust-box.
  • noun See the extract.
  • noun See thurse and thrush.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To make a push; to attack with a pointed weapon.
  • intransitive verb To enter by pushing; to squeeze in.
  • intransitive verb To push forward; to come with force; to press on; to intrude.
  • intransitive verb [Obs.] to rush upon.
  • transitive verb To push or drive with force; to drive, force, or impel; to shove.
  • transitive verb To stab; to pierce; -- usually with through.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English thrusten, from Old Norse thrȳsta; see treud- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old Norse þrysta.

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Examples

  • My Ballpark frank plumps when it cooks, Hoey. *wink, wink, hip thrust, hip thrust*

    WATCHMEN HAS A FEATURETTE 2009

  • Jennifer Merin: "Air Guitar Nation's main thrust is fun, and it's a blast and a half of that."

    GreenCine Daily: Shorts, 3/29. 2007

  • His main thrust is that the economy and business are the most important aspects of a society.

    A Conversation with Shimon Peres 2007

  • His main thrust is that the economy and business are the most important aspects of a society.

    March « 2007 « The Sound Palette 2007

  • Unless the main thrust is satire (which it doesn't appear to be) then I'd choose something memorable but abstract - the old latin dictionary is useful for this sort of thing and I found 'Aequus', meaning level, fair & just?

    Idle Dream No. 94 Newmania 2007

  • His main thrust is that the economy and business are the most important aspects of a society.

    27 « March « 2007 « The Sound Palette 2007

  • Its main thrust is that life cannot be classified in terms of a simple neurological ladder, with human beings at the top; it is more accurate to talk of different forms of intelligence, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

    If Pigs Could Swim 2005

  • Its main thrust is that life cannot be classified in terms of a simple neurological ladder, with human beings at the top; it is more accurate to talk of different forms of intelligence, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

    If Pigs Could Swim 2005

  • Its main thrust is that life cannot be classified in terms of a simple neurological ladder, with human beings at the top; it is more accurate to talk of different forms of intelligence, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

    If Pigs Could Swim 2005

  • Of course the main thrust is to improve our social programmes -- to bring them up-to-date, to give people today's skills for today's jobs, to enable them to make the transition from dependence to independence.

    A New Framework for Economic Policy 1994

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