Literary notes about push (AI summary)
The word “push” takes on a variety of meanings in literature, functioning both as a literal act of force and a metaphor for emotional or intellectual momentum. Authors use it to depict physical movements—a door being nudged open ([1], [2]), a character shunted aside ([3], [4])—as well as to illustrate inner drives or pressures, such as the determination to pursue progress ([5], [6]) or the subtle impetus that shapes social and political events ([7], [8]). In other passages, “push” underscores the struggle to overcome obstacles, whether by coaxing natural processes into motion ([9], [10]) or by urging someone forward in thought and action ([11], [12]). This multiplicity of uses highlights the rich semantic potential of “push” in conveying both tangible and abstract forms of movement.
- Any one who wants to go out simply gives his door a push, and there he is in the open air.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - All at once the door opened under a slight push from him, and he and the two others entered the hall.
— from Dracula by Bram Stoker - He heard me out, and made a gesture with his big arm that seemed to deprive me of my individuality, to push me away into the crowd.
— from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad - It was quite dark when he was awakened by a push from Sikes.
— from Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - He decided to rest her in a clump of trees during the afternoon, and push onward under cover of darkness.
— from Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman by Thomas Hardy - The effort always to do your best will enlarge your capacity for doing things, and will encourage you to push ahead toward larger triumphs.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - ] Let them set on at once; for I perceive But cold demeanor in Octavius’ wing, And sudden push gives them the overthrow.
— from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare - I have telegraphed back to obey no orders of Sherman, but to push forward as rapidly as possible.
— from Memoirs of General William T. Sherman — Complete by William T. Sherman - They'll poke up a bit higher here, an' push out a spike more there, an' uncurl a leaf this day an' another that.
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - “It will make the green points push up and up and up, and it will make the bulbs and roots work and struggle with all their might under the earth.”
— from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett - He began as a poor boy living in the slums of New York with no one to take an interest in him, encourage or push him.
— from Pushing to the Front by Orison Swett Marden - I truly do not wish to push you to premature conclusions.
— from A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
