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PlainSpell

gush

/ˈɡʌʃ/noun, verb

gush is a noun meaning “A sudden rapid outflow” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled G-U-S-H and has one syllable, and it appears about once in every 1 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of gush is gushes.

What does gush mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A sudden rapid outflow.

verb

  1. 1

    To flow forth suddenly, in great volume.

    Water gushed out of the broken pipe.

  2. 2

    To send (something) flowing forth suddenly in great volume.

  3. 3

    To ejaculate during orgasm.

  4. 4

    To make an excessive display of enthusiasm, praise, or sentiment.

    The young mother was gushing over a baby.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce gush?

  • /ˈɡʌʃ/

Gush has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-gush.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of gush

  • gushes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • gushing participle, present
  • gushed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is gush?

Gush appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 35,748th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Gush in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchjaillissement (sudden rapid outflow), jaillir (to flow forth suddenly), s'extasier (to make an excessive display of enthusiasm)
GermanSchwall, Flut (sudden rapid outflow), sich ergießen, strömen, herausquellen (to flow forth suddenly), schwärmen (to make an excessive display of enthusiasm)
Portugueseesguicho (sudden rapid outflow), esguichar (to flow forth suddenly)
Spanishborbollón, borbotón (sudden rapid outflow), manar, salir a chorros, salir a borbotones, brotar (to flow forth suddenly)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does gush come from?

From Middle English guschen, gusshen, gosshien, perhaps from Middle Dutch guysen (“to flow out with a gurgling sound, gush”) or Old Norse gusa (“to gush”), ultimately imitative. Compare Old Norse geysa (“to gush”), German gießen (“to pour”), Old English ġēotan ("to pour"; > English yote). Related to gust.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).