push the boat out (informal)

To entertain, celebrate, etc lavishly

take to the boats

To escape in lifeboats from a sinking ship (also figurative)

push¹ /pŭsh/

transitive verb

1. To thrust or press against
2. To drive by pressure
3. To press or drive forward
4. To urge
5. To press hard
6. (of a plant) to produce (fruit, shoots, roots, etc)
7. To advance or carry to a further point
8. To hit (the ball) too much to the right for a right-handed player, or to the left for a left-handed player (golf)
9. To promote, or seek to promote, vigorously and persistently
10. To make efforts to promote the sale of
11. To effect by thrusting forward
12. To peddle (drugs)
13. To come near, be approaching (an age or number)
14. To insert (data) on to a stack (computing)

intransitive verb

1. To make a thrust
2. To butt (obsolete)
3. To exert pressure
4. To make an effort
5. To press forward
6. To make one's way by exertion
7. To reach out
8. To be urgent and persistent
9. To play a push-stroke

noun

1. A thrust
2. An impulse
3. Pressure
4. A help to advancement
5. Enterprising or aggressive pertinacity
6. An effort
7. An onset
8. An offensive
9. A push-stroke
10. A shot hit too much to the right for a right-handed player, or to the left for a left-handed player (golf)
11. A gang of roughs (Aust)
12. A group of people sharing an interest or background (Aust)
13. A company
14. (with the) dismissal or rejection (informal)

pushed adjective (informal)

1. In a hurry
2. Short of money

pushˈer noun

1. Someone who pushes
2. A machine, or part of a machine, that pushes
3. A propeller placed behind the wing of an aircraft
4. An aeroplane propelled by such a propeller
5. A child's table implement, or a finger of bread, used for pushing food onto a fork or spoon
6. The stick used to propel the puck in the game of octopush (qv)
7. A self-assertive person
8. Someone who assiduously seeks social advancement
9. A drug dealer

pushˈful adjective

Energetically or aggressively enterprising

pushˈfully adverb

pushˈfulness noun

pushˈiness noun

pushˈing adjective

1. Pressing forward eg in business
2. Enterprising
3. Self-assertive

pushˈingly adverb

pushˈy adjective

1. Aggressive
2. Self-assertive, esp obtrusively so

pushˈback noun

Resistance to a proposed course of action

pushˈ-ball noun

A game in which an enormous ball is pushed

pushˈbike noun

(also, esp formerly pushˈ-bicycle or pushˈ-cycle) a bicycle driven by pedals

pushˈ-button noun

A knob, eg on a doorbell or a vending machine, which when pressed causes the bell, vending machine, etc to operate

adjective

Operated by, or using, a push-button or push-buttons

push-button civilization noun

One in which the ordinary unskilled person has the benefits of technology at the pressing of a button

push-button war noun

One carried on by guided missiles, released by push-button

pushˈ-cart noun (US)

A street vendor's barrow

pushˈchair noun

A lightweight wheeled folding chair for conveying a baby or child

push-cycle see pushbike above.

push fit noun

A joint (as between two pipes) made by pushing one part into another

pushˈ-off noun

1. The act of pushing a boat off from the shore, etc, or, in swimming, of pushing oneself off the end of the pool in turning
2. A send-off

pushˈ-out noun

The act of pushing (someone or something) out, eg of pushing an opponent out of the ring in some forms of wrestling

pushˈover noun

1. An easy thing
2. A person or side easily overcome
3. A person easily persuaded or won over

pushˈ-over try noun (rugby)

One scored after the attacking side in a scrum has pushed the defenders back until the ball is able to be touched down behind the try-line

pushˈpin noun

1. A children's game in which pins are pushed one across another (Shakespeare)
2. A large-headed drawing pin, used esp to mark points on maps (US)

pushˈpit noun

A safety railing at the stern of a yacht

pushˈ-pull adjective

Denoting any piece of apparatus in which two electrical or electronic devices act in opposition to each other, used eg of an amplifier in which two thermionic valves so acting serve to reduce distortion

push-pull train noun

One which can be pulled or pushed by the same locomotive

pushˈrod noun

In an internal-combustion engine, a metal rod that opens, and sometimes closes, the valves

pushˈ-start transitive verb

To start (a motor-car) by pushing it while it is in gear

noun

The act of starting a car in this way

pushˈ-stroke noun

1. A push instead of an ordinary hit or stroke at a ball
2. In snooker, etc, an illegal stroke in which the cue is still in contact, or comes into contact again, with the cue ball when the cue ball touches the object ball

push technology noun (computing)

The sending of unrequested messages to a client on the Internet (cf pull technology under pull)

pushˈ-tug noun

A tug for pushing, rather than pulling, barges

pushˈ-up noun

A press-up (see under press¹)

push-up bra noun

A bra so engineered as to lift the breasts noticeably.

at a push

1. When circumstances urgently require
2. If really necessary

give (or get) the push (slang)

To dismiss or reject, or be dismissed or rejected

push along (informal)

To leave, go on one's way

push around (informal)

To bully

push back

1. To postpone
2. (with against) to resist a proposed course of action

push for

To make strenuous efforts to achieve

push off

1. Of a rower or a boat, to leave the bank, shore, etc
2. To depart (informal)

push on

To continue

push one's fortune

To busy oneself in seeking a fortune

push one's luck see under luck

push out

(of person, boat) to row or be rowed out towards open water

push the boat out (informal) see under boat

push the bottle (informal)

To take one's liquor and pass the bottle round

push through

To compel acceptance of

push up the daisies (informal)

To be dead and buried

when push comes to shove

When the time to act or make a decision comes