Green’s Dictionary of Slang

one who copulate; a whore.

1835

‘Snuff Out the Moon’ in Cove in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) IV 220: Darkey comes on [...] for each wim wam shover.

the penis.

1653

Urquhart (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) I Bk I 44: And some of the other women would give these names [...] my lusty live sausage, my crimson chitterlin, rump-splitter, shove-devil, down right to it, stiff and stout, in and to, at her again, my coney-borrow-ferret, wily-beguiley, my pretty rogue.

the penis.

1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 149: Goujon, m. The penis; ‘the shove-straight’.

a phr. used to dismiss an impertinent speaker.

c.1786

Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Another answer to Impertinent Instruction is Go Shove your mothers sisters devil, i.e. your Aunts ****.

see sense 5 above.

see under queer n. (2)

1. to move (quietly).

1883		‘Mark Twain’ Life on the Mississippi (1914) 336: She stopped to get that game-bag before she shoved along again!
1932		D.W. Lovelace King Kong 101: He half swung back [...] but Englehorn’s sharp, ‘Shove along!’ kept him going.

2. (also shove) to leave.

1884		(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 208: Shove along, now.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 80: Better be shoving along. Brother Buzz. Come around with the plate perhaps. Pay your Easter duty.
1930		(con. 1900s–10s) Dos Passos 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 146: I guess I’ll shove along back to New York.
1951		W. Burroughs letter 24 Apr. in Harris (1993) 82: Nothing is working out here and I am ready to shove.
1966		F. Elli Riot (1967) 133: ‘Let’s shove,’ Fletcher said.
1998		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 6: shove – leave.

3. to go along with, to support.

1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 15 Sept. 10/3: Needless to say they are rapidly piling up their little dollar-heaps, and if it lasts another six months it will be independence and a seat in Congress for most every Hiram M’Isaacs among them. Even the lowest in rank of them has a No. 10 fist in the pie, so you can bet they will shove along on the war ticket.
1914		Bulletin (Sydney) 13 Aug. 11/3: People who, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t have touched Orangeism with a 40-rod pole were beginning to join absurdly-named Lodges and to clothe themselves in preposterous regalia in the belief that in some vague way they were thereby shoving along the cause of Empire.

4. to survive.

1941

P.C. Wren Odd – But Even So 278: ‘How are you?’ ‘Pretty fit, thank you, And you, Sir?’ ‘Oh, shoving along.’.

(W.I.) a Model T Ford.

1943

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

to move towards, to go to.

1884

(con. c.1840) ‘Mark Twain’ Huckleberry Finn 336: So Jim he was sorry, and said he wouldn’t behave so no more, and then me and Tom shoved for bed.

to pawn.

1838		‘Paul Pry’ Oddities of London Life 11: It’ll ‘spout’ for twelve bob [...] and as soon as hever I gets it ‘shoved up’ I’ll stand a prime ‘blow-out’.
c.1880		‘O’Reilly’ [US army poem] O’Reilly swiped a blanket, and shoved it up I hear, / He shoved it for a dollar and invested that in beer.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1925		S. O’Casey Juno and the Paycock Act III: Well, ever since I shoved in the blankets I’ve been perishing with th’ cowld.

to defeat an opponent, to cause a good deal of trouble.

1910		Houston Post (TX) 17 July 25/5: The ill-used Buffaloes dropped another notch in the percentage column [...] Why will the fates persistently shove it into the Buffaloes and break it off?
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 22: Your buddy-boy, Doc, could take it and shove it way up before I’d give half a cent for tail.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 136: He was glad he had shoved it up the boss’s ass and broke it off.
1976		Detroit Free Press (MI) 29 Sept. 3/6: ‘I’ll just take them and shove them up the prosecutor’s ass and break them off’.
1986		H. Selby Jr Song of the Silent Snow (1988) 75: Ya gotta keepem in their place or theyll shove it in and break it off.

1. to leave, to go away; usu. as imper; thus shoveoff time n, time to go.

1777		Cumberland Pacquet 2 Sept. 4/1: Now neither Sue nor black ey’d Nan, / Will give one friendly cheer / [...] / Shove off, no Sally’s here.
1824		Scotsman 18 Sept. 2/3: He crept into the vehicle, bidding the driver ‘shove off,’ with a volley of imprecations.
1856		‘Mark Twain’ Adventures of Snodgrass (1928) 31: I shoved out for the Massasawit House [DA].
1865		Queensland Times 16 Feb. 5/5: O’Gorman then said to Russell ‘Shove off at once,’ and the prisoner immediately lelt.
1872		‘Mark Twain’ Innocents at Home 479: I then took what small change he had and ‘shoved’.
1882		Bristol Magpie 20 July 3/1: You’d best shove out for your tram.
1891		’Sailors’ Lingo’ in Hants. Teleg. 21 Feb. 11/3: If you are not wanted to join in any conversation on board ship, you are told to ‘shove off’.
1897		‘Mark Twain’ How to Tell a Story 10: So he git up, he did, en tuck his lantern en shoved out thoo de storm.
1905		Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Sept. 19/2: A wild–looking Irishman, who was spreeing there and looking for a fight, called Tom a sanguinary perverter of the truth, and started peeling off. Tom, looking at me, said, ‘I don’t want any mullock of this sort. We’ll shove.’.
1910		Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 101: And now [...] as the hour is getting late, perhaps we had better be shoving off for home.
1920		R. Lardner Big Town 135: We was out on the porch when her ladyship and two dogs shoved off.
1927		(con. 1918) J.W. Thomason Red Pants 87: It’s time to shove off now.
1930		(con. 1900s–10s) Dos Passos 42nd Parallel in USA (1966) 128: It’s time we shoved. [Ibid.] 331: I guess I’ll shove off for New York right after Mardi Gras.
1931		R.E. Howard ‘Alleys of Peril’ Fight Stories Jan. 🌐 Let’s cop the sparkler for ourselves and shove out!
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 218: Yeah, fellow, shove on while you’re all together!
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 160: And now, Bertie, like a good chap, shove off.
1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 150: I felt no regrets at shoving off.
1945		R. Westerby Mad in Pursuit 10: Come on, Wilks, we’ve got to shove off.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 207: It’s no good you mugs hanging round here like a couple of dogs after a bitch on heat. I’ve got a lot of work to do. Shove off!
1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 52: Come on, professor, let’s shove.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 140: Here’s your keys [...] I’m shoving off now.
1958		(con. 1950) E. Frankel Band of Brothers 14: This [i.e. a pistol] is what I came for. We can shove now.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 28 Aug. Proud Highway (1997) 350: I’m going to whip this one off in hopes of catching you before shoveoff time.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 107: He told her to grab her gear and shove off.
1974		D. Ireland Burn 135: ‘Ready to shove off?’ he says cheerfully.
1981		Beano 27 June 19: You don’t scare me, Bears! Shove off!
1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself (1985) 39: Shoat [...] said he guessed he’d better shove off.
1985		J. Morrison Share House Blues 90: ‘Let’s get these presents into the car, then shove off’.
1994		P. Baker Blood Posse 59: Here’s a dollar, Pops, now shove off.
2012		R. Brunet ‘Lucky for Me’ in ThugLit Dec. [ebook] ‘If that’s best you’ve got [...] shove off’.

2. UK Und. to give a sentence of transportation.

1834

York Herald 3 May 4/3: You b—y convicted thief, you tried to get me shoved of to Bottomy.

to interfere where one is not wanted.

1821–6		‘Bill Truck’ Man o’ War’s Man (1843) 139: ‘Troth now, Father Gibby,’ cried Dennis, shoving in his oar ‘[...] twenty to one does not know what you mane at all.’.
1827		London Eve. Standard 23 Nov. 1/5: The Ex is at hand, and ready, as ‘a public character,’ to shove in his oar.
1837		‘Nights At Sea’ in Bentley’s Misc. Nov. 615: To my thinking it’s wery hodd, Muster Jolly, that you should shove your oar in where it arn’t wanted.
1848		Newry Teleg. 9 Sept. 3/4: Professing [...] to revive agitation in Ireland, Mr John O’Connell has been prompt to [...] shove in his oar.
1867		N.Y. Times 24 Feb. 2/5: He does go on, and he ‘sticks his oar in,’ as usual.
1874		E.K. Wood Johnny Ludlow III 41: If you shove in your oar, Johnny Ludlow, or presume to interfere with me, I’ll pummel you to powder.
1897		Guthrie Dly Leader (OK) 1 Aug. 4/3: ‘Babe’ McNeal attempted to stick his oar into the procedings.
1904		Inter Ocean (Chicago) 31 July 29/4: Mickey was what I called a tenement house philosopher. He’d stick his oar in every bit of talk.
1914		Huntingdon Herald (IN) 28 Dec. 3/2: Nobody, it seems, cares to stick his oar in [...] and take a chance of getting mixed up in the federal investigation.
1929		N. Jacob Man Who Found Himself (1952) 105: Not a bad chap; respectful, listens to what you say, didn’t shove his oar in every second.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 126: He starts shoving his oar in and cavilling and obstructing.
1937		J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 180: Who arst you to come sticking your oar in?
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 66: And she can and will get drunk on Clark Street if you stick our oar in.
1950		Courier-Jrnl (Louisville, KY) 30 July 32/1: [He] ‘begs leave to stick in his oar’ to find fault.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 43: I could have relied on Bobbie to shove her oar in.
1962		K. Waterhouse There is a Happy Land (1964) 69: Mrs Fawcett was always shoving her oar in every time we’d been doing anything.
1975		F.A. Cleary A Pocketful of Years 44: I’se mighty sick of you shoving blade in all the time [...] instead of minding your own damn business.
1981		Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 29 July 6/3: It now seems that Uncle Sam is willing to stick his oar in for any or no reason.
1994		Age (Melbourne) 19 Jan. 14/1: Various scientific disciplines have had a go at explaining this phenomenon [...] Freud was one of the first to stick his oar in.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 151: They got army engineers donkeyin an Caesar experts figurin an a whole bunch of other geezers stickin their oar in.

to move.

1789		G. Parker Life’s Painter 134: Crap me but I must shove my trunk, and hop the twig — I see as how there’s nothing to be got in this here place.
1847		G.M.W. Reynolds Mysteries of London III 66/1: So he speeled to the crib, while his jomen shoved her trunk too.

to sodomize.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 1063/1: C.20.

see push shorts under short n.

see under brass n.¹

see under tumbler n.²

to abscond from a house or flat, taking one’s furniture and possessions, but paying no bills.

1809		G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant n.p.: Shoving the moon, to steal your goods away without paying the rent.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1837		Leics. Mercury 4 Nov. 2/4: Her landlord [...] Mr. W said that, finding she was about to ‘shove the moon,’ (in more polite language, about to depart without paying the rent,) he laid an embrago on her boxes.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.

see shove the tumbler under tumbler n.²

(Aus./N.Z.) to kill, usu. in passive, i.e. to be shoved under, to be killed.

1934		cited in Partridge DSUE (1984).
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 188: shove under To kill; shove underground is simply to bury, whether or not you killed the body first. ANZ late C19.

see shove in

see push up (the) daisies v.

(orig. US) to reject something vehemently; thus dismissive phr. you know where you can shove it.

1945		R.L. Bellem ‘Dead Don’t Dream’ in Hollywood Detective July 🌐 ‘I hired you for a job, and—’ ‘And I told you where you could shove it.’.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 81: There’s a kind of pleasure in telling somebody like Conn where to shove it.
1957		‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 12: ‘I could also write you up and—’ ‘Do that. And you know where you can shove it.’.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 21: If the gaffer got on to you now you could always tell him where to put the job. [Ibid.] 32: When it comes to the lousy vote they give me I often feel like telling ’em where to shove it.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 42: Naturally I told him where to stick his diagnosis.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 35: Appreciate the extra work you chaps did for us this evening. Could’ve told us where to stick it.

a synon. for go fuck yourself! under fuck v.

1947

B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 208: Aah, go shove yourself, spithead.