Shove Meaning
/ʃʌv/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo push, especially roughly or with force.
verbTo move off or along by an act of pushing, as with an oar or pole used in a boat; sometimes with off.
Sentence Examples
Shove a stick up your ass.
If he had insulted me, I would have given him a shove.
I think it's time for me to shove off.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He had to ____ his way through the crowd to reach the front.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You might need to give the heavy wooden door a firm ____ because the old hinges are starting to rust.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English schouven, from Old English sċūfan, from Proto-West Germanic *skeuban, from Proto-Germanic *skeubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-. See also West Frisian skowe, Low German schuven, Dutch schuiven, German schieben, Danish skubbe, Norwegian Bokmål skyve, Norwegian Nynorsk skuva; also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"So, after a spell, he decided to make the best of it and shoved us into the front parlor. 'Twas a dismal sort of place, with hair wreaths, and wax fruit, and tin lambrekins, and land knows what all"
— 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"The ship was anon shoven in the sea."
— 1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in [Le Morte Darthur], (please specify the book number), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
"He grasped the oar, received his guests on board, and shoved from shore."
— 1699, Samuel Garth, The Dispensary:
"I rested […] and then gave the boat another shove."
— 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput):
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He had to ____ his way through the crowd to reach the front.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You might need to give the heavy wooden door a firm ____ because the old hinges are starting to rust.