Library / English Dictionary

GUSH

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An unrestrained expression of emotion

Synonyms:

blowup; ebullition; effusion; gush; outburst

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("gush" is a kind of...):

expression; manifestation; reflection; reflexion (expression without words)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gush"):

acting out (a (usually irritating) impulsive and uncontrollable outburst by a problem child or a neurotic adult)

cry (a fit of weeping)

explosion (a sudden outburst)

flare (a sudden outburst of emotion)

Derivation:

gush (praise enthusiastically)

gushy (extravagantly demonstrative)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A sudden rapid flow (as of water)

Example:

she attacked him with an outpouring of words

Synonyms:

flush; gush; outpouring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("gush" is a kind of...):

flow; flowing (the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gush"):

springtide (a swelling rush of anything)

Derivation:

gush (gush forth in a sudden stream or jet)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Praise enthusiastically

Example:

She raved about that new restaurant

Synonyms:

gush; rave

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "gush" is one way to...):

praise (express approval of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue gush over the results of the experiment

Derivation:

gush (an unrestrained expression of emotion)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Issue in a jet; come out in a jet; stream or spring forth

Example:

flames were jetting out of the building

Synonyms:

gush; jet

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "gush" is one way to...):

course; feed; flow; run (move along, of liquids)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

gusher (an oil well with a strong natural flow so that pumping is not necessary)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Gush forth in a sudden stream or jet

Example:

water gushed forth

Synonyms:

gush; spirt; spout; spurt

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "gush" is one way to...):

pour (flow in a spurt)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "gush"):

pump (flow intermittently)

blow (spout moist air from the blowhole)

whoosh (gush or squirt out)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Derivation:

gush (a sudden rapid flow (as of water))

gusher (an oil well with a strong natural flow so that pumping is not necessary)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Plumes of the warm, mineral-laden water gush from the seafloor and travel upward, thinning the moon's ice shell from beneath to only half a mile to 3 miles (1 to 5 kilometers) at the south pole. (The average global thickness of the ice is thought to be about 12 to 16 miles, or 20 to 25 kilometers.) And this same water is then expelled into space through fractures in the ice.

(Powering Saturn's Active Ocean Moon, NASA)

And then there was a gush as if a ewer had been upset, and down he sank upon the ground, with his head in the corner, twisted round at so strange an angle to his shoulders that one glimpse of it told me that my man was slipping swiftly from the clutch in which I had fancied that I held him.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Oh! With what a burning gush did hope revisit my heart!

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But a fountain of blood was gushing forth.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Even as he spoke, however, his head swirled round, and he fell to the deck with the blood gushing from his nose and mouth.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I said this almost involuntarily, and, with as little sanction of free will, my tears gushed out.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The gushing fountains which sparkle in the sun, must not be stopped in mere caprice; the oasis in the desert of Sahara must not be plucked up idly.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The most lay silent, but some muttered to themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Jo said this with such a droll imitation of May Chester's gushing style that Amy got out of the room as rapidly as possible, feeling a strong desire to laugh and cry at the same time.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Tears also gushed from the eyes of Clerval, as he read the account of my misfortune.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)