From Middle English guschen, gusshen, gosshien, perhaps from Middle Dutch guysen (“to flow out with a gurgling sound, gush”) or Old Norse gusa (“to gush”), ultimately imitative.
Compare Old Norse geysa (“to gush”), German gießen (“to pour”), Old English ġēotan ("to pour"; > English yote). Related to gust.
Meanings
A sudden rapid outflow.
There was a cartoon woman in an apron on the front. She stood with one hand on her hip while she used the other hand to pour a gush of drain-cleaner into something that was either an industrial sink or Orson Welles's bidet. 1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger:
From Middle English guschen, gusshen, gosshien, perhaps from Middle Dutch guysen (“to flow out with a gurgling sound, gush”) or Old Norse gusa (“to gush”), ultimately imitative.
Compare Old Norse geysa (“to gush”), German gießen (“to pour”), Old English ġēotan ("to pour"; > English yote). Related to gust.
Meanings
(also, figuratively, intransitive) To flow forth suddenly, in great volume.
On life's long round by chance I found / A dell impearled with dew, / Where hyacinths, gushing from the ground, / Lent to the earth heaven's native hue / Of holy blue. 1889, Mathilde Blind, “[Love in Exile. Song X.] ‘On Life’s Long Round’.”, in The Ascent of Man, London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, page 177:
Water gushed out of the broken pipe.
From cracks and holes in the wall water gushes out under high pressure as if from a huge burst water pipe. 1989 May, Uwe George, “Venezuela's Islands in Time”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, page 535:
Large streames of bloud out of the truncked stocke / Forth gushed, like fresh water streame from riuen rocke. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 10:
All the complaints she'd bottled up came gushing out during their marriage counselling session.
After he was stabbed, blood came gushing out his throat.
(also, figuratively, transitive) To send (something) flowing forth suddenly in great volume.
A beautiful spring gushed water from the ground in this mountainous sector of Polk County, inspiring the name of the place. 2001, Larry L. Miller, Tennessee Place-names, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 196:
The other was no longer capable of controlling his anger; his parasite creature amplified his passion by ten; his jaws cracked open and his great mouth gushed blood from torn gums as teeth grew out of them like bone sickles. 1993, Brian Lumley, Blood Brothers, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 119:
(especially, intransitive, of a woman) To ejaculate during orgasm.
Somehow, this made his ejaculations all the more exciting, sending hot tingles streaking through her as he gushed. 2009, Emma Holly, Kissing Midnight, Penguin, →ISBN:
Odd. She'd never managed to do that to herself before—to climax so hard she gushed. Sometimes her sex partners didn't satisfy her as well as she could on her own, but her most intense orgasms had always been with others. 2017, Cara McKinnon, Memories of Magic, Stars and Stone Books, →ISBN:
[…] she pulled off an amazing orgasm, one after another, she gushed with force, […] 2014, Stewart N. Johnson, Parthian Stranger 2 Conspiracy, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:
Her orgasm exploded over her, making her writhe and cry out his name. She gushed over his hand, her cunt gripping and releasing his invading fingers. 2008, Anya Bast, The Chosen Sin, Penguin, →ISBN, page 154:
(figuratively, intransitive, transitive) To make an excessive display of enthusiasm, praise, or sentiment.
Randy Thornton, a producer with Walt Disney Records, put it this way: “Walt was not a man who gushed praise. His biggest words of approval were, 'That'll work.' 2010, Pat Williams, Jim Denney, How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN:
The young mother was gushing over a baby.
Nellie routinely gushed praise to students for good performance whereas Frank was much more sparing in praising students. 2017, Judson G. Everitt, Lesson Plans: The Institutional Demands of Becoming a Teacher, Rutgers University Press, →ISBN:
Miss Johnson gushed approval with her usual air of coquettish superiority. 1911, Thompson Buchanan, Making People Happy, page 14: