- rush (v.)
- c.1340 (implied in rushing), "to drive back or down," from Anglo-Fr. russher, from O.Fr. ruser "to dodge, repel" (see ruse). Meaning "to do something quickly" is from 1659; transitive sense of "to hurry up (someone or something)" is from 1850. Football sense originally was in rugby (1857). Fraternity/sorority sense is from 1896 (originally it was what the fraternity did to the student). The noun is attested from c.1380; sense of "mass migration of people" (especially to a gold field) is from 1848, Amer.Eng. Meaning "surge of pleasure" is from 1960s. Rush hour first recorded 1890.
- rush (n.)
- "plant growing in marshy ground," O.E. resc, earlier risc, from P.Gmc. *rusk- (cf. M.L.G. rusch, M.H.G. rusch, W.Fris. risk). O.Fr. rusche probably is from a Gmc. source. Used for making torches and finger rings, also strewn on floors when visitors arrived; it was attested a type of "something of no value" from c.1300.