Onrush
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 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."
- 2 (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons) wordnet
- 3 An aggressive assault.
"He caught Grendel's right hand, and still without rising from his bed, stopped the monster's onrush."
- 4 a forceful forward rush or flow wordnet
- 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.
Example
More examples"When a thunderstorm suddenly came out of the blue, she jumped abruptly out of the hammock and ran headlong into the house where she stopped short, remembering suddenly that she had no lightning rod, and because she realized at once that this sudden onrush of a thunderstorm could end her life before she could say Jack Robinson, she became sore afraid."
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”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.