1598 Mucedorus sig. E When any coms from vnder the sea or so, and a dog chance to blow his nose backewarde, then with a whip I giue him the good time of the day, and strawe rushes presently, therefore I am a rusher, a hie office I promise ye.

1631 B. Jonson New Inne v. v. 96 Pipers, Fidlers, Rushers, Puppet-masters, Iuglers, and Gipseys.

1618 T. Adams Happines of Church i. 23 We haue some such rushers into authority vncalled, vicious correctors of vice, that vndertake to cleanse the Augean stables.

1654 R. Whitlock Ζωοτομία 148 Remit such Rushers not into the Church onely, but Pulpit, to the Philosophy Schoole to be shamed.

1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) Rushers, thieves who knock at the doors of great houses in London,..and on the door being opened by a woman, rush in and rob the house; also housebreakers who enter lone houses by force.

1861 T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. III. viii. 148 We always thought a rusher [in a fight] no good at school.

1876 M. E. Braddon Joshua Haggard's Daughter I. 82 He..was a rusher across country.

1887 Cyclist 11 May 739/1 This irrepressible writer and rusher to conclusions.

1911 Our Jrnl. (Metal Polishers Union of N. Amer.) Oct. 24/2 The ‘rusher’ is a young workman in his prime, marvelously quick in his work.

1949 T. Roscoe U.S. Submarine Operations v. 49/2 The rush is spectacular..but it is a tactic which frequently ends in exhaustion, leaving the rusher little in reserve for a follow-through.

1993 S. White Private Pract. xxix. 222 Raoul wasn't much of a rusher; he actually sort of sauntered over.

1839 Daily Picayune (New Orleans) 27 Mar. 2/2 ‘Ain't he [sc. a horse] a rusher?’ bawls out still a third, and exclamations of this kind rent the air.

1889 Cent. Mag. Oct. 874/1 The pretty girl from the East is hardly enough of a ‘rusher’ to please the young Western masculine taste.

1902 A. D. McFaul Ike Glidden in Maine 121 She's such a rusher 'twon't taker her no time if I kin only git her.

1853 Austral. Gold Diggers Monthly Mag. Jan. 141 The dishes of the first rushers up refused to show the golden sediment.]

1856 Morning Chron. 18 Feb. 7/6 The rushers being all experienced diggers,..were highly successful in their search for gold.

1870 Overland Monthly Mar. 259/2 Many of the ‘rushers’, excited beyond measure by the glowing accounts constantly arriving from the North, portrayed the country in their lively imagination, as glittering with precious metal.

1892 Q. Reg. Current Hist. 1 433 As many of the ‘rushers’ are very poor, there is sure to be great suffering in the territory.

1934 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 53/1 The rushers who in 1898 braved the terrors of the Chilkoot Pass and two thousand miles of wilderness to get into the Klondike.

1965 E. Gruening in C. L. Lokke Klondike Saga p. xi To their communities back home the rushers sent accounts of their experiences, which were willingly published by their local newspapers.

1999 W. Hobbs Jason's Gold vii. 48 A slowly moving stream of rushers and freight wagons choking the muddy street.

1877 Boston Daily Advertiser 23 Oct. The teams are finally made up as follows: Harvard—Atkinson '81; Tebbets '80;..Homes '79; Swift '79 (rushers).

1883 Atlantic Monthly May 682/1 An attempt to break through the line of rushers, in a scrimmage.

1913 St. Nicholas Nov. 37/2 The instant the ball was put in play and the V simultaneously moved forward, the defensive rushers leaped forward toward the mass.

1969 Internat. Herald Tribune 6 Nov. 13/6 Floyd Little, leading rusher in the American Football League, suffered a sprained right knee.

1974 Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) 13 Oct. c6/2 Wellington carried 12 times for 129 yards to lead all rushers.

2001 Village Voice (N.Y.) 4 Dec. 189/2 When Curtis Martin gains 983 yards in 10 games, he is no less than the league's leading rusher.