propelv.
/prəˈpɛl/, U.S. /prəˈpɛl/, /proʊˈpɛl/ 1. transitive. To drive away or out; to eject; to expel.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > expel
afferreOE
warpc1000
outdriveOE
wreakc1100
to cast out1297
to cast fortha1382
out-chasec1395
flecchea1400
to shoot forth, out, awaya1400
propel?1440
expulse?a1475
scour1488
out-thrust1532
to catch forthc1540
propulse1548
pulsec1550
unplant1552
to turn out of ——1562
extrude1566
detrude?1567
eliminate1568
deturbate1570
detruse1571
unroost1598
to put by1600
deturb1609
bolt1615
run1631
disembogue1632
out of1656
expel1669
rout1812
to manage (a person) out of1907
tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. 1034 (MED) Fer awey propelle Horrende odour of kichen, bath, gutteris.
1590 E. Daunce Briefe Disc. Dialoguewise 25 Being neither able to procure frendes or to propell a weake or feble enemie.
1645 T. Fuller Good Thoughts in Bad Times xxiv. 122 How came it to passe, Lord, that he who expell'd him finally out of others, did not propell him so from himself.
1666 G. Harvey Morbus Anglicus xxx. 181 Avicen doth witness, the blood to be frothy, that's propel'd out of a Vein of the Breast.
1700 J. Jones Myst. Opium Reveal'd xx. 336 The Motion of the Heart growing more vigorous,..does more powerfully propell the Humours out at the Pores (as happens in Sweat upon Motion.).
1725 J. Sedgwick New Treat. Liquors x. 139 The whole mass, is more powerfully propell'd and plentifully excluded, the vitious Juices are thrown off.
1837 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 127 427 The slender arrows propelled from the Súmpitan, or blow-pipe.
1868 Proc. Royal Soc. 1867–8 16 335 When the lymphatic heart contracted, a stream of lymph was propelled from it into a vein at its posterior border.
1933 Musical Times 74 644/2 Her voice shot forward like a bullet propelled from a gun.
1996 Holiday Which? Jan. 58/2 The [ghost of the] stabbed and defenestrated Earl of Douglas, propelled from the King's Old Building.
2.
a. transitive. To encourage, promote, accelerate (an enterprise, activity, etc.); to urge or spur onward (a person).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > will > motivation > motivate [verb (transitive)] > incite or instigate > drive, impel, or incite
enforce1542
pulsec1550
carry1570
pusha1578
propel1830
drive1838
1571 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Royal Burgh of Lanark (1893) 62 And gef in their offeris in writ how..the toun may..haif the saming wrocht, propallet, and performet and..in quhat maner thei will aparall and byg the saming [tolbooth].
1634 T. Browne tr. W. Camden Hist. Princesse Elizabeth 93 The Earle had made a League with the Nobility of Vlster very secretly, to defend the Romish Religion..and propell the Englishmens iniuries.
1762 Ld. Kames Elements Crit. I. ix. 389 The rate of succession may be retarded by insisting upon one object, and propelled by dismissing another before its time.
1787 G. Gregory tr. R. Lowth Lect. Sacred Poetry Hebrews I. i. 28 The people, propelled by a kind of celestial inspiration, flew immediately to arms.
1830 I. D'Israeli Comm. Life Charles I III. xiii. 279 The terror of Romanism propelled Protestantism.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt III. xliii. 182 Mrs. Holt, like all orators, had waxed louder and more energetic, ceasing to propel her arguments, and being propelled by them.
1902 E. R. Bevan House Seleucus II. 158 He was propelled not only by the desire of glory, but by the urgent necessity of money.
1957 ‘R. West’ Fountain Overflows iv. 76 We were not specially accomplished or sensible children, but..we were propelled along the groove of a competent tradition.
1996 Sunday Tel. 4 Feb. (Business section) 2/4 The market has worked itself into a frenzy of anticipation, propelling the shares from less than £10 to more than £17 in the past year.
b. transitive. To drive or push forwards, onwards, or in a specified direction; to cause to move along; to power (a vessel or vehicle).
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impelling or driving > impel or drive [verb (transitive)] > propel
protrude1554
propel1588
project1596
1588 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1882) IV. 531 To..obtene lettres aganis the schips of the coist syde for transporting ane pairt of the puir schipbrokkin Spayngyerts and propelling thame thairto.
1657 Sir T. Browne Nature's Cabinet Unlock'd 224 The interior tunicle is more carnous, the exterior membranous: it is endowed with crooked fibres, the better to be enabled to propel matter.
1693 R. Bentley Confut. Atheism from Origin of World: Pt. II 24 Too feeble and languid to propell so vast and ponderous a Body with that prodigious velocity.
1744 G. Berkeley Siris (ESTC T72826) §32 The sap is propelled through the arterial tubes of a plant.
1769 W. Falconer Shipwreck (ed. 3) ii. 48 Propel'd by gentle gales, the vessel glides.
1784 G. Washington Diary 7 Sept. (1978) IV. 11 He has discovered the art of propelling Boats, by mechanism & small manual assistance.
1834 G. Bennett Wanderings New S. Wales I. 116 [A boomerang] possesses the apparent anomalous property of striking an object in the opposite direction from that in which it is at first propelled.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xvi. 649 Each galley was propelled by fifty or sixty huge oars.
1888 H. James Aspern Papers vii She felt herself propelled firmly and easily over the smooth, hard floor.
1920 F. S. Fitzgerald This Side of Paradise i. iv. 163 He saw Burne's long legs propel his ridiculous bicycle out of sight beyond Alexander Hall.
1958 W. E. Swinton Fossil Amphibians & Reptiles (ed. 2) xii. 90 Additional musculature to enable the tail to propel the animal [sc. a hadrosaur] like a duck in the underwater position.
2004 New Yorker 24 May 67/1 The machine was propelled by electric thrusters.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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