ˈpush-and-pull, a. and n.
Also push and pull.
[f. push-: see pull n.2 and v. and cf. push-pull.]
A. adj. Involving pushes and pulls, esp. alternately. a. gen.
| 1914 H. Carrington Probl. Psychical Research xii. 371 A straight push-and-pull action is easier to accomplish than the more detailed and complicated action of forming words and letters. 1949 Koestler Insight & Outlook xiii. 192 The mechanistic push-and-pull physics of the last century. 1960 Times 3 Oct. (Advt. Suppl.) p. ii/2 The Skid-Stac attachment..consists of a load carrying plate and push-and-pull rack. |
b. Designating (the operation of) a ‘reversible’ train, which may journey in either direction without having its engine turned about. Also, of the locomotive engine itself. See also pull-and-push s.v. pull- 3.
| 1939 K. G. Fenelon Brit. Railways To-day iii. 61 The most hopeful solution would appear to be the adoption of the push-and-pull type of train, which can be driven from either end, and which can take extra vehicles if required. 1955 C. J. Allen Gt. Eastern Railway vi. 66 The Edmonton & Cheshunt line..was..reopened, on March 1st, 1915, to serve some munition factories in the neighbourhood, and was worked by a two-coach ‘push-and-pull’ unit with 2-4-2 tank No. 1311. 1965 K. Hoole in Regional Hist. Railways Gt. Brit. IV. xii. 219 Push-and-pull units, first used between Hartlepool and West Hartlepool in 1905, became a familiar sight throughout the system. 1975 G. Bye in G. W. Knight Jackson Knight v. i. 367 A much planned..trip on the ‘Tivvy Flyer’, the push and pull train on the Tiverton and Bampton branch-line, was, alas, never made. |
B. n. a. U.S. Mil. (See quot. 1929.) Also attrib.
| 1920 Official Hist. 315th Infantry U.S.A. 28 The greater part of the time was devoted to..the ‘push and pull’ exercise. 1921 F. T. Floyd Company F Overseas 37 These rides remind a soldier of that bit of army exercise popularly known as ‘push and pull’. 1929 Papers Mich. Acad. Sci., Arts & Lett. X. 317 Push and pull,..sighting and aiming drill. |
b. fig. Tug of war.
| 1958 Spectator 4 July 19/3 The dramatic centre of the book is..the push-and-pull between Yule and his devoted but mutinous daughter. |