Gush Meaning
/ˈɡʌʃ/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA sudden rapid outflow.
verbTo flow forth suddenly, in great volume.
Sentence Examples
Uri Avnery founded the Gush Shalom movement in 1993.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Water began to ____ from the broken pipe, flooding the basement quickly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden ____ of water erupted from the broken pipe, quickly flooding the entire basement of the house.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
"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:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Water began to ____ from the broken pipe, flooding the basement quickly.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A sudden ____ of water erupted from the broken pipe, quickly flooding the entire basement of the house.