onrush

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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒnˌɹʌʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

onrush (plural onrushes)

1. A forceful rush or flow forward.
   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh‎, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., published 1857, First Book, pp. 32-33:

     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.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 22, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959:

     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.

   • 1987 July 31, Paul Goldberger, “A Baker’s Dozen of New York City’s Urban Masterpieces”, in New York Times:

     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.

Verb

onrush (third-person singular simple present onrushes, present participle onrushing, simple past and past participle onrushed)

1. To rush or flow forward forcefully.
   • 2021 May 29, David Hytner, “Chelsea win Champions League after Kai Havertz stuns Manchester City”, in The Guardian‎:

     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.

Anagrams

• Hurons