shove
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to push someone or something with a lot of force, often in a rude or careless way.
v.to push someone or something roughly or with significant force. Transitive — requires a direct object.
Simple“The angry man tried to shove his way through the crowded train station.”
In context“He had to shove the heavy wooden crate across the warehouse floor because the wheels on the trolley were broken.”
UsageOften used with 'away', 'aside', or 'through' to indicate direction.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to put something somewhere quickly and without being careful.
v.to place or stow something in a hasty, careless, or disorganized manner.
Simple“I didn't have time to clean, so I just shoved the mess into the closet.”
In context“She shoved the unsigned documents into her briefcase and hurried out the door before the manager could ask any questions.”
- 03 C1 Advanced
v.to bet all of your money or chips at once in a game of poker.
v.to make an all-in bet by moving all remaining chips into the pot.
Simple“He decided to shove with his last few chips, hoping to win the hand.”
In context“With the blinds increasing and his stack dwindling, the professional player chose to shove from the button with a marginal hand.”
UsageUsually used as an intransitive verb in gambling contexts.
- 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a strong or rough push given to someone or something.
n.an act of shoving; a forceful or rude physical push.
Simple“The bully gave him a shove in the playground, but a teacher saw it happen.”
In context“The heavy door required a determined shove before the rusted hinges finally groaned and allowed us entry.”
“Previously, “if you wanted to record somebody, you had to take out your phone, shove it in their face,” Quintin said.”
“So I shoved the coding tasks off onto an LLM.”
From Middle English schoven, shoven, schouven, from Old English sċūfan, from Proto-West Germanic skeuban, from Proto-Germanic skeubaną, from Proto-Indo-European *skewbʰ-. See also West Frisian skowe, Low German schuven, Dutch schuiven, German schieben, Danish skubbe, Norwegian Bokmål skyve, Norwegian Nynorsk skuva; also Lithuanian skùbti (“to hurry”), Polish skubać (“to pluck”), Albanian humb (“to lose”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.