Definition of "jostle" in Anglais

verb

1. (ambitransitive) To bump into or brush against while in motion; to push aside.

2. (intransitive) To move through by pushing and shoving.

3. (transitive) To be close to or in physical contact with.

4. (intransitive) To contend or vie in order to acquire something.

   • 1917, Rudyard Kipling, “The Children,” poem accompanying the story “The Honours of War” in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan, pp. 129-130, […] Our statecraft, our learning Delivered them bound to the Pit and alive to the burning Whither they mirthfully hastened as jostling for honour.

5. (dated, slang) To pick or attempt to pick pockets.

noun

1. The act of jostling someone or something; push, shove.

   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: J. Cooke, 1765, p. 241, I had full hold of her Watch, but giving a great Jostle, as if somebody had thrust me against her, and in the Juncture giving the Watch a fair pull, I found it would not come, so I let it go that Moment, and cried out as if I had been killed, that somebody had trod upon my Foot […]

2. The action of a jostling crowd.

   • 1865, Harriet Beecher Stowe (under the pseudonym Christopher Crowfield), The Chimney-Corner, Boston: Ticknor & Field, 1868, Chapter 12, p. 291, For years to come, the average of lone women will be largely increased; and the demand, always great, for some means by which they many provide for themselves, in the rude jostle of the world, will become more urgent and imperative.