onrush

From on- +‎ rush. Compare Middle English onresen (“to rush upon; attack”), from Old English *onrǣsan (“to rush, rush on”); Old English onrǣs (“an onrush, assault, attack”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒnˌɹʌʃ/

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onrush (plural onrushes)

1. A forceful rush or flow forward.
   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh‎, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., published 1857, First Book, pp. 32-33:

     The love within us and the love without
     Are mixed, confounded; if we are loved or love,
     We scarce distinguish. So, with other power.
     Being acted on and acting seem the same:
     In that first onrush of life’s chariot-wheels,
     We know not if the forests move or we.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 22, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959:

     For a brief moment the onrush of the egwugwu was checked by the unexpected composure of the two men. But it was only a momentary check, like the tense silence between blasts of thunder. The second onrush was greater than the first. It swallowed up the two men.

   • 1987 July 31, Paul Goldberger, “A Baker’s Dozen of New York City’s Urban Masterpieces”, in New York Times:

     So persistent is the onrush of new construction in New York that the first temptation for the architecture buff is to track down the latest things, be they good or bad

2. An aggressive assault.

• onslaught

onrush (third-person singular simple present onrushes, present participle onrushing, simple past and past participle onrushed)

1. To rush or flow forward forcefully.
   • 2021 May 29, David Hytner, “Chelsea win Champions League after Kai Havertz stuns Manchester City”, in The Guardian‎:

     Werner’s run had created the space and Havertz got there before the onrushing Ederson, catching a little break off the goalkeeper before rolling it into the empty net.

2. To assault aggressively.

• Hurons