jostle

Etymology

It is formed from English joust + -le (“frequentative suffix”),^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} the base being Middle English justen, also jousten.^[4][8][3] The American Heritage Dictionary enters the verb itself in that period as justilen.^[8] Joust is from Old French joster (“to joust, tilt, fight in single combat”),^[3][8] the Anglo-Norman form juster being recorded from 1113–19.^[9] It goes back to Vulgar Latin *iuxtō (“to approach, come together, meet”), from Latin iuxtā (“beside, next to, very near”), from a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *yeug- (“to join”).^[3] The noun comes from the verb.^[2][4][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

To have sexual intercourse with: about 1400 in Etymonline,^[3] from the Destruction of Troy, which the OED dates to perhaps before 1400 in a copy of about 1540 and glosses "to encounter sexually".^[2] The American Heritage Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Shorter Oxford also give this as the first sense,^[8][11][10] while Hoad has "meet with in an encounter" in the 14th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was rare and died out,^[2][10] and the current senses date from the middle of the 16th century.^[11][12] John Heywood's Dialogue of 1546 has the first knocking or pushing against, the sense of the crowd,^[2][7] and it became transitive in 1575.^[2] The link with its base was still felt in 1580, when Hollyband's French dictionary has "to trye one an other at justling",^[13][2] and the sense "to tilt in a tournament" lasted until 1759.^[2] From about 1618 the pushing was also for a position, and hence for any advantage.^[2][3] From 1622 it also meant pushing one's way through.^[2] Horse racing took it up for pushing a rival, in the London Gazette of 1723.^[2] The spelling was long unsettled: Barnhart has iustle in 1546, justle in 1580 and jostle only in 1678,^[4] justle was the usual form in the 17th century and the main one in the 18th,^[2][3] and Johnson (1755) treats jostle as a variant, defining it as "to justle; to rush against".^[2][14] The noun first meant a tussle (1607–09), then from 1611 a shock or push.^[2][10][4] In Sussex and Hampshire dialect the verb meant "to cheat" and in East Anglia "to make room by sitting close".^[15] Green's Dictionary of Slang has the sense "to cheat" as underworld slang in Britain from 1781, and "to pickpocket" in American underworld and police use.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – to have sexual intercourse with (rare, soon obsolete).^[3][2]
• 1546 – to knock or push against; to push and shove, spelled iustle.^[2][4][7] Etymonline dates it to the 1540s.^[3]
• 1575 – transitive, to knock or push against; to elbow.^[2]
• 1580 – to joust in a tournament (obsolete by 1759).^[2]
• 1602 – to force roughly out of or into a place or condition.^[2]
• 1607 – noun, a tussle (obsolete by 1609).^[2][4]
• 1611 – noun, a shock or collision; a push.^[2][4][7]
• 1618 – to contend for a place or an advantage.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s.^[3]
• 1622 – to make one's way by shoving.^[2]
• 1641 – to bring things into collision.^[2]
• 1678 – the spelling jostle.^[4]
• 1723 – in horse racing, to push a competitor so as to hold them back.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To bump or push someone roughly, especially in a crowd: Commuters jostled him on the platform.^[17][7][2]
2. To come or bring into rough contact; to shove against one another.^[17][7][2]
3. To force one's way by pushing: She jostled her way to the front of the queue.^[17][2]
4. To vie or struggle for a position or an advantage: Three firms are jostling for the contract.^[2][10]
5. In horse racing, to push against another horse so as to hinder it.^[7][2]
6. (obsolete, 1580–1759) To joust or tilt in a tournament.^[2][10]
7. (obsolete) To have sexual intercourse with.^[2][10][8]

Noun

1. The act of jostling; a rough bump or push.^[17][7][2]
2. The state of being crowded and pushed together.^[7][2]
3. In horse racing, the pushing of one horse by another; interference.^[7]
4. (obsolete, 1607–09) A struggle or tussle.^[2][10]

Word family

• jostler
• jostlement
• unjostled

Related words

• joust
• adjust
• juxtapose
• join
• yoke

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
17. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins