onrush en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Northern-US) audio
- /ˈɔnˌɹʌʃ/ Southern US, Midland US, without the cot–caught merger
- /ˈɒnˌɹʊʃ/ (Northern-England)
- /ˈɑnˌɹʌʃ/ Northern US or with the cot–caught merger
- /ˈɒnˌɹʌʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
- /ˈɔnˌɹʌʃ/ (British, Southern, Standard)
Etymology
From on- + rush. Compare Middle English onresen (“to rush upon; attack”), from Old English onrǣsan (“to rush, rush on”); Old English onrǣs (“an onrush, assault, attack”).
Meanings
-
A forceful rush or flow forward.
The love within us and the love without Are mixed, confounded; if we are loved or love, We scarce distinguish. So, with other power. Being acted on and acting seem the same: In that first onrush of life’s chariot-wheels, We know not if the forests move or we.
1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., published 1857, First Book, pp. 32-33:For a brief moment the onrush of the egwugwu [masked men representing ancestral spirits] was checked by the unexpected composure of the two men. But it was only a momentary check, like the tense silence between blasts of thunder. The second onrush was greater than the first. It swallowed up the two men.
1958 June 17, Chinua Achebe, chapter 22, in Things Fall Apart, London: Heinemann, →OCLC:So persistent is the onrush of new construction in New York that the first temptation for the architecture buff is to track down the latest things, be they good or bad […]
1987 July 31, Paul Goldberger, “A Baker’s Dozen of New York City’s Urban Masterpieces”, in New York Times:
-
An aggressive assault.
He caught Grendel's right hand, and still without rising from his bed, stopped the monster's onrush.
1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 29:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| onrushes | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Synonyms
Translations (7)
bg устрем (forceful rush) · bg атака (aggressive assault) · fi rynnäkkö (forceful rush) · fi ryntäys (forceful rush) · fi rynnistys (forceful rush) · fi päällekarkaus (aggressive assault) · la ēruptiō (aggressive assault)