onrush

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
9
Words With Friends
10
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈɒnˌɹʌʃ/
See all 4 pronunciations
/ˈɒnˌɹʌʃ/ · /ˈɔnˌɹʌʃ/ · /ˈɑnˌɹʌʃ/ · /ˈɒnˌɹʊʃ/

Definition of onrush

4 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. 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.”
    “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.”
    “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 […]”
See all 4 definitions

noun

  1. 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.”
    “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.”
    “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 […]”
  2. An aggressive assault.
    “He caught Grendel's right hand, and still without rising from his bed, stopped the monster's onrush.”

verb

  1. To rush or flow forward forcefully.
    “Werner’s run had created the space and Havertz got there before the onrushing Ederson, catching a little break off the goalkeeper before rolling it into the empty net.”
  2. To assault aggressively.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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”).

Anagrams of onrush

1 play · some not in Scrabble

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