Other forms: thrusting, thrusts
To thrust is to push something forward with force. Thrust the door open, thrust into his hand, a sudden thrust.
The force and the suddenness together are what the word carries. As a noun, thrust in engineering is the forward force a jet or rocket produces, measured in newtons. The thrust of an argument is its main push. Note that the word came from Old Norse.
1verbthrustTo push something forward with force.
“He thrust the letter into my hand and walked away without a word.”
2nounjetThe forward force a jet or rocket produces.
“The rocket's engines produced enough thrust to lift it off the launch pad.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
thrust is a forceful push.
Old Norse thrysta means to thrust or force. The word replaced native English forms.
Proto-Indo-European
*trewd-
Proto-Germanic
*þrustijaną
Old Norse
þrysta
Middle English
þristen
English, today
thrust
From Middle English þristen, from Old Norse þrysta, from Proto-Germanic þrustijaną, possibly from Proto-Indo-European trewd-.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA