repulse

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English repulsen,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Latin repulsus, the past participle of repellō (“to drive back, reject”),^{[3][5][4][6][7]} which is the source of repel and is formed from re- (“back”) and pellō (“to drive, strike”).^[4][6] The OED regards the verb as probably of two origins, partly the Latin stem and partly borrowed from Middle French repulser (“to drive away, make fall back”), itself from the frequentative repulsō (“to drive or force back, reject”).^[8] The Anglo-Norman verb repulser, to repel, is recorded from the mid 12th century.^[9] The noun has a similar history: the OED takes it from Middle French repulse together with repulsa (“refusal, rebuff”) and the noun repulsus, a driving back;^[8][5] Barnhart derives it mainly from the English verb,^[3] and Etymonline from all of these together.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To drive back or away: before 1425, in a translation of Guy de Chauliac's Grande Chirurgie, of bodily matter held back when a wound is bound.^[8][2] Barnhart finds the verb probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon.^[3] The noun, a refusal, is recorded about 1475, in a translation of Christine de Pisan.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The military sense, to beat back an attack, is recorded before 1475, in the translation of Higden.^[8][3] The word turned from force to manners in 1533, when Bellenden's Livy used it for rejecting or rebuffing a person,^[8][3] and the noun had already meant the refusal of a request.^[8] Its military counterpart, the driving back of a hostile force, follows in 1548,^[8] and Etymonline's first sense of the noun, from the late 15th century, is "defeat".^[4] Johnson (1755) gave only these older meanings, defining the verb as "to beat back; to drive off".^[10] The sense of disgust is the latest, from 1816, and the OED compares it with repulsive.^[8] Etymonline dates the same sense of repel to 1817.^[4] In scientific use the verb is a synonym of repel, especially of the force of an electric or magnetic field.^[8] The older verb senses to ward off an injury (1560–1873) and to shut out from something (1548–1880) have died out.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1425 – verb, to drive back or away.^[8][2]
• before 1475 – verb, to beat back an assailant or assault.^[8][2]
• c. 1475 – noun, refusal of a request; rebuff.^[8]
• 1533 – verb, to reject or rebuff a person.^[8][3]
• 1548 – verb, to shut out from something (obsolete by 1880); noun, the driving back of a hostile force.^[8]
• 1578 – noun, the act of forcing back, in a physical sense.^[8]
• 1816 – verb, to cause disgust and aversion.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To drive or beat back an attack or an attacking force, usually by arms: The garrison repulsed three assaults before dawn.^[11][5][8]
2. To reject or rebuff someone coldly: He repulsed every offer of help.^[11][5][8]
3. To fill someone with disgust or aversion: The smell of the drains repulsed the visitors.^[11][8]
4. (chiefly science) To drive back or away, especially by an electric or magnetic field; to repel.^[8]

Noun

1. The act of driving back an attacker, or the fact of being driven back: the repulse of the cavalry at the bridge.^[11][5][8]
2. A cold refusal or rejection; a rebuff.^[11][5][8]
3. (archaic) The act of forcing something back; the state of being forced back.^[5][8]

Word family

• repulser

Related words

• repel
• repellent
• repulsion
• repulsive
• pulse

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ 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 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins