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rush

1. A moving forward with rapidity and force or eagerness; a violent motion or course; as, a rush of troops; a rush of winds; a rush of water. A gentleman of his train spurred up his horse, and, with a violent rush, severed him from the duke. (Sir H. Wotton)

2. Great activity with pressure; as, a rush of business.

3. A perfect recitation.

4. A rusher; as, the center rush, whose place is in the center of the rush line; the end rush. The act of running with the ball. Bunt rush, the line composed of rushers.

1. (Science: botany) A name given to many aquatic or marsh-growing endogenous plants with soft, slender stems, as the species of Juncus and Scirpus.

Some species are used in bottoming chairs and plaiting mats, and the pith is used in some places for wicks to lamps and rushlights.

2. The merest trifle; a straw. John Bull's friendship is not worth a rush. (Arbuthnot) bog rush. See Bog. Club rush, any rush of the genus Scirpus. Flowering rush. See Flowering. Nut rush Any plant of the genus Scleria, rushlike plants with hard nutlike fruits. A name for several species of Cyperus having tuberous roots. Rush broom, an Australian leguminous plant (Viminaria denudata), having long, slender branches. Also, the spanish broom. See candle. Rush grass, any grass of the genus Vilfa, grasses with wiry stems and one-flowered spikelets.

(Science: zoology) Rush toad, the natterjack.

(Science: botany) Scouring rush same as dutch rush, under Dutch. Spike rush, any rushlike plant of the genus Eleocharis, in which the flowers grow in dense spikes. Sweet rush, a sweet-scented grass of arabia, etc. (Andropogon schoenanthus), used in oriental medical practice. Wood rush, any plant of the genus Luzula, which differs in some technical characters from Juncus.

Origin: OE. Rusche, rische, resche, AS. Risce, akin to LG. Rusk, risch, D. & G. Rusch; all probably fr. L. Ruscum butcher's broom; akin to Goth. Raus reed, G. Rohr.