pusher
(ˈpʊʃə(r))
[f. push v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who or that which pushes (lit. and fig.). Also in various technical uses.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Corneador, a pusher with the hornes. 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer v. i, The beggarly Pusher of his Fortune has all he has about him still only to shew. 1859 Sala Tw. Round Clock (1861) 135 The pushers of invalid perambulators. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life i. Fate, Everything is pusher or pushed: and matter and mind are in perpetual tilt and balance so. 1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 87 Brickmaking: Clamp Process:..Pusher⁓out. Ibid. 89 Flattening Glass Making..Pusher. 1884 A. M. Mayer in Sport in Amer. Woods II. 751 Boats..with a broad stern in which was a roomy seat for the pusher to stand on while he plied his ‘gaff’. This is the name given to the pushing-pole. 1885 [see puller 1]. 1895 Nebraska State Jrnl. 23 June 5/1 As a student he was known as a ‘pusher’; a man who was first in his classes and first in all the doings of the college. 1909 Daily Chron. 12 Oct. 4/6 It is a very difficult matter for an agent to canvass in a legitimate manner, as these special ‘pushers’ have told such glowing yarns of ‘increased bonuses and profits’. 1929 [see passer 3 d]. 1946 Wodehouse Money in Bank xix. 159 He was not without his dark suspicions of that big-hearted pusher of oil shares. 1954 Sun (Baltimore) 5 June 1/8 Perry had come to this city..to act as a ‘pusher’ of the stolen cash. 1973 Amer. Speech 1969 XLIV. 259 Pusher, locomotive that helps to start a heavy train or to push a train up a grade. |
† b. (See quots.) Obs.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Pushers, Canary-birds new Flown that cannot Feed themselves. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Canary bird. |
c. A girl, a young woman; spec. a prostitute. slang.
| 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 236 Pusher,..girl, une typesse, une gonzesse. 1936 J. Curtis Gilt Kid 116 Mr. Bloody Bedbug's up here having a good time with my pusher. 1944 A. Wykes in Penguin New Writing xix. 105 A pusher for me. I'm off the beer, but I could use a judy. 1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 19 Nelson and his pusher took the chance to sneak away, and I managed to manoeuvre Sylvia as far as the kitchen. |
d. One who peddles drugs illegally. slang (orig. U.S.).
| 1935 J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 6 Pusher, one who retails drugs. 1948 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 681 A marihuana smoker is a viper..and a peddler is a pusher. 1951 N.Y. Times 14 June 1/1 Encouraged by ‘pushers’ of narcotics who sometimes offered free samples to beginners. 1956 ‘E. McBain’ Cop Hater in 87th Precinct (1959) 60 Junkies are easy to trace. Talk to a few pushers, zing, you're in. 1959 Guardian 3 Dec. 9/2 High-powered city detectives..looking for ‘junkies’ (drug-addicts) and ‘pushers’ (drug-peddlers). 1967 E. Wymark As Good as Gold ix. 140 People like Crane..were called ‘pushers’ and were usually addicts themselves. 1976 Howard Jrnl. XV. i. 46 Western loathing for temptation is vented..upon the scapegoats of the junkie and the pusher. |
2. a. A part of a machine having or communicating a thrusting action; a machine having such parts.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 261 A pusher now acts behind the staple, and drives it home into the leather. 1852 Seidel Organ 38 Between the two shanks a strong ledge, called the pusher, can be drawn. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Pusher, a form of bobbin-net machine..having independent pushers to propel the bobbins and carriages from front to back. 1882 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 484 The bobbins were acted on separately by a ‘pusher’ or governor. |
b. Naut. The seventh mast of a seven-masted schooner.
| 1902 Boston Even. Transcript 23 July 20/3 The name of the masts, by the way, are in order, fore, main, mizzen, spanker, jigger, driver, and pusher. 1909 Shipping Illustr. 25 Dec. 327/1 As is now well known, the sixth mast was denominated the driver and the seventh the pusher. |
c. Aeronaut. An aircraft having an airscrew behind the main wings. Freq. attrib.
| 1913 Flight 7 June 613/2 The ‘pusher’, as this machine is familiarly called to distinguish it from a tractor biplane of the same make. 1915 [see nacelle 2 b]. 1918 Cowley & Levy Aeronautics i. 5 The pusher type is much less efficient as a flying machine than a tractor. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 20/2 The first biplanes..were of the ‘propeller’ type, colloquially ‘pushers’; almost all monoplanes were ‘tractors’. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Aug. 4/5 The new Nazi types are reported to be a ‘pusher’ fighter..and a medium bomber. 1955 Sci. News Let. 19 Feb. 114/1 Another small ‘pusher’ propeller mounted between the double tail assembly gives thrust for level flight. 1969 K. Munson Pioneer Aircraft 1903–14 104/2 Later in 1906 Blériot converted this machine into the Blériot IV, installing two Antoinettes driving pusher propellers. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 25 Sept. 17/1 Kiceniuk's aerobike looks like some experimental light airplane. It has red wings..and a 6½-foot pusher propeller. |
3. An implement, in profile resembling a rake, used by infants to push food on to a spoon or fork; also, a piece of bread used for this purpose.
| 1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 606/3 Child's silver spoon and food pusher, in case—18/–. 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 671/1 Pusher,..a finger of bread used as a feeding-implement. 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 578/1 Child's silver spoon and food pusher, in case. 1957 J. Kirkup Only Child v. 84 Among the cutlery were my own two personal pieces—a spoon and a ‘pusher’; the latter was an inelegant little implement which I used to push food on to my spoon. 1959 Sunday Times 25 Oct. 20/3 The traditional pusher is..on the way out.. dropped..in favour of the spoon alone. 1963 C. Mackenzie Life & Times I. 155 The pusher, a small piece of crust which one was always being adjured to use more carefully to assist the cut up meat on to one's fork. |
4. A push-chair. Austral. colloq.
| 1953 A. Upfield Murder must Wait vii. 60 Several prams and pushers parked in an alcove. 1966 G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. viii. 180 What he calls a pushchair..or a friend from Adelaide [calls] a pusher. 1970 K. Giles Death in Church vi. 151 With her patent folding, plasticised pusher she intended taking the twins for a walk. 1979 Verbatim Summer 8/1 When a headline announces that pushers are to be allowed on Adelaide buses, the permission extends not to ‘peddlers of drugs’ but to ‘a child's pushchair’. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as pusher set, a baby's spoon and pusher; pusher-tug (see quot. 1970).
| 1939–40 Army & Navy Stores Catal. 543/3 Baby spoon (loop) and *pusher set—Gift box 5/–. 1951 Catal. Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 125/1 Pusher set... Feeding set. 1970 Guardian 19 Sept. 18/5 A ‘train’ of three barges is propelled by a 300 hp twin-screw ‘*pusher-tug’. 1973 Hrůša & Coxon tr. Kozák's Ships 188/1 A new towing system..involves the pusher-tug pushing a group of closely connected barges. |