Thrust, n.
1. A violent push or driving, as with a pointed weapon moved in the direction of its length, or with the hand or foot, or with any instrument; a stab; -- a word much used as a term of fencing.
[Polites] Pyrrhus with his lance pursues,
And often reaches, and his thrusts renews. --Dryden.
2. An attack; an assault.
One thrust at your pure, pretended mechanism. --Dr. H. More.
3. Mech. The force or pressure of one part of a construction against other parts; especially Arch., a horizontal or diagonal outward pressure, as of an arch against its abutments, or of rafters against the wall which support them.
4. Mining The breaking down of the roof of a gallery under its superincumbent weight.
Thrust bearing Screw Steamers, a bearing arranged to receive the thrust or endwise pressure of the screw shaft.
Thrust plane Geol., the surface along which dislocation has taken place in the case of a reversed fault.
Syn: -- Push; shove; assault; attack.
Usage: Thrust, Push, Shove. Push and shove usually imply the application of force by a body already in contact with the body to be impelled. Thrust, often, but not always, implies the impulse or application of force by a body which is in motion before it reaches the body to be impelled.
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