Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a crowded social occasion.

1841		Comic Almanack Apr. 264: What a crowd! what a crush!
1854		G.J. Whyte-Melville General Bounce (1891) 189: We fear he had rather go to a ‘crush’ at Lady Dinadam’s than sup with Boz.
1872		Pall Mall Gazette 23 June n.p.: [...] one week of political reunions, concerts, balls, and crushes would be as disastrous in its effects as two months of absinthe drinking [F&H].
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 28 Feb. 4/3: One might mix with the ‘Crême,’ at Lady Blue-skin’s, and the next form one in the very questionable company at Mrs. ‘Parvenu’s’ ‘crush;’ for her invites are issued without any discrimination; but then que voulez vous?
1890		‘F. Anstey’ Voces Populi 48: Oh, there’ll be a tremendous crush, of course – they know everybody.
1900		T. Dreiser Sister Carrie 153: They had come out of the lobby and made their way through the showy crush about the entrance.
1906		H. Lawson ‘Keeping His First Wife Now’ in Roderick (1967–9 II) 177: And the wedding and ‘crush’ are remembered yet / As the ‘smart’ things of the week.
1915		H.L. Wilson Ruggles of Red Gap (1917) 347: There will be a crush, of course.
1960		(con. c.1928) D. Holman-Hunt My Grandmothers and I (1987) 169: It sounds so unlike a crush at Lady Perrick’s.
1975		R. Macklin Queenslander 248: He found his wife in the crush of the lobby.

2. a crowd, a gang.

1900		Boy’s Own Paper 1 Dec. 132: I pushed through the crush.
1912		Truth (Wellington, NZ) 6 Apr. 6/2: There is an unusual crush of people.
1914		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 15 Apr. 3/2: Well, the house as are in question / It are managed by a crush, / As employs a Secretary .
1919		Marvel 1 Mar. 8: Fane plunged into the crush and addressed them.
c.1921		T. Norman Penny Showman 69: It took the doorman and myself all our time to steady the crush.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 177: I ain’t throwed in with this crush long.
1944		G. Blake Shipbuilders (1954) 60: Crivens, boy, it’s great to see one of the old crush!
1950		A. Buckeridge Jennings Goes To School 150: A chap your age shouldn’t be playing with Binns minor and all that crush.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 189: I pushed down the rest of my beer and joined the crush.