Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to leave, thus as imperative.

1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 5 Mar. n.p.: Vilst to the door he hustle me, saying push along keep valking.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure (1962) 58: Let’s be pushing along, shall we?
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 222: Guess I’ll be pushing along. I’ve a date to keep.
1932		D.L. Sayers Have His Carcase 152: Thought I’d better push along.
1950		A. Christie Murder Is Announced (1958) 152: I’ll push along there now.

(W.I.) a Ford Model T automobile.

1943

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

see separate entry.

see separate entry.

sexual intercourse.

1705–07

N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II:7 12: But when at Push a Pike we play / With Beauty, who shall win the Day.

(US) to die; to be dead.

1887		Daily Trib. (Bismarck, ND) 23 Oct. 4/1: To die is [...] ‘push clouds.’.
1913		A. Welcker People 150: The man who took it regularly for twelve months could then have presented to him an opportunity to drop dead and ‘push clouds’.
1936		L. Pound ‘Amer. Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 198: Is pushing the clouds around/about.

(W.I.) to urge others into a fight, with no intention of participating oneself.

1996

Allsopp Dict. Carib. Eng. Usage.

(Aus.) to stop talking.

1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 18: cut-off (n.) — ‘To push in one’s cut-off’ — to stop talking.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: cut-off. ‘To push in ones [sic] cut-off’ – to stop talking.

to approach a limit, often in one’s conduct; esp. as don’t push it, don’t go too far (or you will face the consequences).

1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 921: ‘Dont push it,’ Warden said.
1958		E. Gilbert Vice Trap 69: He was pushing it now.
1973		in C. Browne Body Shop 67: It’s OK to die for your country, but why push it?
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 78: I was wondering whether one earring might be pushing it, never mind two.
1997		C. McPherson Weir 73: Don’t push it, boy.
2000		Observer 9 Jan. 26: Don’t push it too far, I’m on the 1 o’clock news tomorrow with the Interior Minister and I can get you fired.
2010		K. Richards Life 261: If I feel I’m pushing it a little bit, need to relax it, have a little bump of smack.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] I briefly considered trying to wheedle Jenny’s number out of her mum, but she seemed like a pretty switched-on old cookie, so I decided not to push it.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 3: I pushed it and she kicked off.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 206: ‘You’re pushing it, Daniels’.

1. to leave; esp. as imper. push off! go away!

1763		C. Speckman Life, Travels, Exploits, Frauds and Robberies 38: Then I pushed off for Henley on Thames.
1797		T. Morton A Cure for the Heart Ache in Inchbold (1808) XXV 24: Push off – brush – run!
1814		P. Freneau ‘On the Conflagrations at Washington’ in Amer. Poetry: the 19th Century I 9: They said to Cockburn, ‘honest Cock! / To make a noise and give a shock / Push off’.
1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 380: I suppose he saw them push off before he returned.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Sept. 48/1: ‘Push off!’ said the shameless Joe easily. ‘You can’t have him for your boy – he’s married.’ / The girl hesitated for a minute; then she squealed and slapped him. ‘You can’t pull my leg! Take that!’.
1925		S. O’Casey Juno and the Paycock Act I: I’ll have to push off now, for I’m terrible late already.
1939		Rover 18 Feb. 24: Got a nerve, ain’t you? Push off!
1942		Whizzbang Comics 40: Me no speak-a da English! Push-a off!
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 273: I’d better be pushing off.
1958		D. Stivens Scholarly Mouse and other Tales 50: I’m sick to death of visitors...push off!
1959		C. Lee diary 14 May in Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 216: The Third [Engineer] told him to push off because he’d got typhoid .
1966		T. Keyes All Night Stand 15: ‘Push off,’ said my little blonde to the intruder.
1971		M. Novotny Kings Road 227: We might as well push off now.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘Christmas Crackers’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] You’re not honestly suggesting that we just push off out of it and leave him to spend the night on his own?
2001		M. Coles Bible in Cockney 104: They left ’im and pushed off.

2. to start, esp. to start a game [SE push off, to push a boat off from its mooring].

1962

H.S. Thompson letter 7 Feb. in Proud Highway (1997) 316: Push-off date is still about a month.

3. to go somewhere.

1878		Gleason’s Monthly Companion VII 128: ‘And now let me advise you, young man,’ turning to Leonard, ‘to push off to America’.
1937		G.N. Peacock Stubbs at Fifty 62: I’m going to leave this curious old backwater and push off to London. ...
1957		G. Kersh Fowlers End (2001) 64: Was Zola in the Franco-Prussian War? Bet your life ’e wasn’t—’e pushed off to Marseilles.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 29: Where are we pushing off to, Phil?
1994		B.T. Bradford To Be the Best 196: I’ll spend the weekend here with the kids, then push off to London on Sunday night.
2000		S. Warrier Sniper 170: He’d push off to somewhere in Bengal [...] and live out his days in a village there.

4. to kill.

1921		D.L. Sayers Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1977) 181: What the deuce did it matter if old Fentiman was pushed painlessly off a bit before his time?
1930		E. Caldwell Poor Fool 164: I’m getting him for pushing Louise off.
1938		D. Runyon ‘A Job for the Macarone’ Runyon on Broadway (1954) 693: He is sick and tired of living [...] He does not have the nerve to push himself off. So he wishes to find some good reliable party to push him off.
1950		R. Starnes Another Mug for the Bier 125: ‘Courtney Mandrel is pushed off with a poison’.

1. to continue on one’s way, to take the next step of a journey; the underlying sense is often one of reluctance or weariness.

1763		C. Speckman Life, Travels, Exploits, Frauds and Robberies 6: I [...] pushed on for London.
1797		T. Morton Cure for the Heart Ache in Inchbold (1808) XXV 24: Come along, dad – push on, my dear dad [...] keep moving.
1861		T. Hughes Tom Brown at Oxford (1880) 442: You two push on, and strike across the heath.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 115: Shall you go back to de city, Mishter Murden, or vill you push on for Bendego?
1874		M. Clarke Term of His Natural Life (1897) 8: We must push on, for it grows late.
1902		‘Banjo’ Paterson ‘With French to Kimberley’ Rio Grande’s Last Race (1904) 161: But French looked once, and only once, and then he said, ‘Push on’.
1910		Wodehouse Gentleman of Leisure (1962) 15: Well, I was rather thinking of pushing on as far as the Park.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 285: The day after to-morrow was dole-day, and whether they liked it or not, they must push on.
1957		D. Niland Call Me When the Cross Turns Over (1958) 73: I’ll push on.
1961		‘Frank Richards’ Billy Bunter at Butlins 185: Let’s push on! [...] Feel like pushing on, Bunter?
1967		B. Crump Odd Spot of Bother 26: We’d better push on.

2. to depart, to commence a journey.

1894		Longman’s Mag. XXIV 196: And now, if you’ll allow me, I’ll push on home.
1906		Marvel 17 Nov. 475: I say, push on at once!
1919		J. Buchan Mr Standfast (1930) 801: The idiots say the Huns will be in Amiens in a week. What’s the phrase? ‘Pourvu que les civils tiennent.’ ’Fraid I must push on, Sir.
1934		D.L. Sayers Nine Tailors (1984) 295: But I really must push on now.
1940		J.G. Brandon Gang War 231: We better be pushing on, Osaki. Your car should be waiting.
1955		R. Mais Black Lightning (1966) 41: Guess I better be pushing on home.
1974		(con. 1930s) I. Agnew Loner 87: We’d better push on back to work before we’re missed.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 293: I stayed three weeks before pushing on.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 push on Definition: to leave a potentially hostile situation. Example: You betta push on or get yo ass whupped on!!

3. to accompany on a journey.

1883

J. Greenwood Tag, Rag & Co. 86: I think I shall push on with you after all [...] but I don’t mind waiting till you have finished the game.

see also under relevant nouns.

1. to brag.

2003

timothy ‘A Traveler’s Guide to Mars’ posting on Slashdot 3 Sept. 🌐 I particularly liked the way Hartmann kept almost all his own tale in small sidebars called ‘My Martian Chronicles’, 15 of them scattered through the book. These were interesting and meant that he could push his own barrow in a way that didn’t intrude into the rest of the book, you could read them when you wanted.

2. to look out for one’s own interests first.

2000

Yae ‘Speight himself’ posting 10 July on Forum on ABC Online 🌐 George Speight comes over as well educated and articulate, which he probably is. Unfortunately this gives him the cover he needs to push his own barrow.

to engage in homosexual anal intercourse.

2002

(ref. to 1920s–30s) in M. Houlbrook Sun among Cities 219: We treated them as a joke. We had various names for them, not very nice names. If you wanted to describe a gay man with a gay man we would say, ‘he’s pushing shit up a hill’ .

(US) to cost.

1943

R.L. Bellem ‘Phoney Shakedown’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Feb. 🌐 The dinner jacket he was wearing [...] must have pushed him back at least two hundred hermans.

to hit someone in the face.

1906		Gadfly (Adelaide) 14 Nov. 772/3: [W]hen I meet him I intend to assault and batter him with great fury and malice aforethought and criminal intent, with my best wishes to do him grievous bodily harm, to wit, push in his face.
1907		Carr & Chase ‘Word-List From Eastern Maine’ in DN III:iii 248: push one’s face, v. To strike one in the face. ‘He pushed his face.’.
1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 21 July 26/1: Ow! you blanky, awful cow! Push his face in!
1930		Western Dly Press (Bristol) 25 Feb. 6/4: Leigh threatened to push his face in.
1939		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 10 Aug. 7/5: If he told Mrs Phillip anything about his [i.e. the accused’s] wife he would push his face in.
1953		K. Tennant Joyful Condemned 33: I should have pushed her face in.
1967		Red Clay Reader 4 91/1: ‘We should push your face in,’ one of them said. The big guy grabbed his shirt in his fist.
1974		P. Smith ‘Piss Factory’ 🎵 You do it my way or I push your face in. / We knee you in the john if you don’t get off your get off your mustang Sally.
1980		D. Shahar His Majesty’s Agent 351: If things had been the other way around I would smash you, push your face in.
1993		M. Jevons Murder at Margin 163: If you ever try something like that on me again, I’ll push your face in.
2002		velcrometer.blogspot.com 19 Aug. 🌐 If you start over from the beginning one more time, I swear to God I’m going to push your face in.

(US prison) to irritate someone, to tease someone.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 90: Push Someone’s Key To cause someone to become extremely irritated and angry.

see also under relevant nouns.

1. to spend heavily, usu. on pleasure, eating, drinking etc, often treating others.

1916		T. Burke Limehouse Nights 214: Going to push the boat out for me? [...] Mine’s a claret and soda.
1929		N. Jacob Man Who Found Himself (1952) 71: It was the accepted thing [...] to order whiskies and sodas, to ‘stand your corner’ and ‘push the boat out’ readily and generously.
1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 39: This bloke you’re meeting up the Old Jacket and Vest to-night, let him push the boat out.
1941		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 2 Oct. 6/3: ‘And if you’ll allow me, Miss Wimbush, I shall be ’appt to push out the boat [...] ’appy to buy the first round.’ [...] ‘Two double brandies,’ he ordered.
1956		A. Burgess Time for a Tiger 77: ‘Oh well, one for the road then.’ ‘Push the boat out, Adams,’ said Hart. ‘Stengah for me.’ .
1961		(con. WW2) R. Poole London E1 (2012) 122: Boy-boy quietly slipped three one-pound notes into his father’s hand. ‘Push the boat out, old’n’.
1976		P. Theroux Family Arsenal 24: What will you have? I’d like to push the boat out.
1982		J. Sullivan ‘Diamonds are for Heather’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] You’re pushing the boat out a bit aren’t you?
1984		(con. WW2) T. Jones Heart of Oak [ebook] I was skint, not a bloody penny to my name, and this here hatter— a real toff he was— comes up and pushes the boat out for a few jars.

2. to do something to excess; to speak unguardedly.

1998		(con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 36: She straddled him on his chair and gave him the goods, really pushed it out.
2000		Guardian 14 Feb. 17: Sensing the beginning of a very special relationship he pushed the boat out a little.
2018		J.-P. Jordan Joys of War 28: Judging by the faces on my patrol commanders I had pushed the boat out way too far.

3. to exaggerate.

1962

R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 24: He sometimes pushes the boat out a bit far.

to drink.

1759		‘Humours of an Election Entertainment’ inLondon Mag. Mar. 159/2: Ye hearty cocks! who feel the gout / Yet briskly push the glass about.
1787		Burns letter 30 June in Works (1842) 262/2: We dined at another good fellow’s house, and consequently, pushed the bottle; when we went out [...] we found ourselves ‘Not vera fou, but gaylie yet’.
1814		Morn. Post (London) 19 May 3/4: Then push round the bottle [...] And now for a toast to delight you, my boys.
1819		Bristol Mercury 20 Sept. 4/1: Now let’s push the bottle around, / And make the broken glasses skip.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 210: Tom, having pushed the glass about briskly after dinner, proposed a visit to the Theatres.
1825		(con. late 17C) E. Hardcastle 29th May II 168: Come, push the glass about my blades — more work for the cooper.
1860		Leicester Jrnl 21 Dec. 3/1: ’Tis a cold winter’s night, but the fire blazes bright / [...] / Push the bottle about.
1870		G.H. Fielding Barmecide’s Dream 4: And not look over wise! But push the glass about, my boy, Nor leave a heeltap sly.

see walk (backwards) up Holborn Hill under Holborn Hill n.

(N.Z. prison) to be a recidivist.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 148/2: push the recall button v. to reoffend and return to prison, esp. to be recalled after serving a life sentence.

1. to make romantic moves towards someone, usu. in the hope of seduction.

1983		T. White Catch a Fire 112: Someone would start talking carelessly about ‘pushin’ up’ someone’s sister.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 138: A number of terms relate to sexual behavior, including: pushin up.
1999		Eble Campus Sl. Apr.
2012		‘Dutch’ ? (Pronounced Que) [ebook] Nigguh, don’t talk to him, talk to me! I pushed up on him.

2. to frighten, to intimidate.

1950

Goldin et al. DAUL 168/1: Push up. To hold up.

3. to approach aggressively, to ‘get in someone’s face’.

2004		W.D. Myers Shooter 37: She pushed up on Len, got her face right into his, and he said something to her and some spit came out of his mouth.
2007		W.D. Myers ‘what would jesus do?’ inWhat They Found 19: So I thought that I would talk to him and just push up on him enough to check him out.

see separate entry.

(US black) what sort of car do you drive?

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

(Aus.) a dismissive retort.

1933

R. Tate Doughman 206: ‘Run along and hurry up those Viennas.’ [...] ‘Push me pink, I will!’ answered Dicky.