Urge v.

Also 6 urdge. [ad. L. urgē-re to press, drive, compel, etc. (whence It. urgere, Sp. and Pg. urgir).]

  I.  1. trans. To bring forward, present, or press upon the attention (a fact, reason, argument, etc.) in an earnest or urgent manner; to plead with or by way of argument or excuse; to allege, affirm, or state, esp. in justification, extenuation, or defence.

In frequent use from c. 1685.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 315 b. The Emperour … aunswered him plainly that he could not … praise the same decree, and still vrged his promesse and couenaunt.

1565.  Calfhill, Answ. Martiall, 155. Ye vrge a miracle, for euery … splinter of the Crosse, inasmuch as a Church was preserued from burning by it.

1596.  Edward III., II. i. 447. A spatious field of reasons could I vrge.

1655.  Fuller, Ch. Hist., I. 8. This … were an argument (as K. Iames did once pleasantly urge it) to prove our Old stile before the New.

a. 1695.  J. Scott, Chr. Life, II. Wks. 1718, I. 419. The Apostle urges our having a compassionate High Priest in Heaven to intercede for us.

1713.  Berkeley, Hylas & Phil., II. Wks. 1871, I. 314. I am at a loss what more to urge.

1784.  Cowper, Task, VI. 56. The few…, seeking grace t’improve the prize they hold, Would urge a wiser suit than asking more.

1798.  S. & Ht. Lee, Canterb. T., II. 164. [He] urged his weak health, as rendering it necessary he should travel very leisurely.

1816.  J. Scott, Paris Revisit. (ed. 3), 321. Canova appeared as a claimant in behalf of Rome, which had only her venerable name to urge.

1855.  Poultry Chron., III. 240/2. The most fastidious can urge no objection.

1864.  D. G. Mitchell, Sev. Stor., 279. The Count urged the scandal which would grow out of such a measure.

  b.  Const. on, upon; to, etc.; also against.

1593.  Shaks., Rich. II., II. i. 299. Vrge doubts to them y^t feare. Ibid. (1607), Cor., IV. vii. 19. He knowes not What I can vrge against him.

1654.  Bramhall, Just Vind., iii. 35. Yet three things are urged against it.

1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 622. The terms we sent were terms of weight,… and full of force urg’d home.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. xv. So far from being an Advocate for the present Prisoner, she urged his Guilt to his Officer.

1841.  A. Combe, Physiol. Digestion (ed. 3), 304. I shall … urge upon him the necessity of rendering our knowledge more complete.

1872.  Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 1313. Lancelot on him urged All the devisings of their chivalry.

  c.  With clause as object, either introduced by that or directly quoted.

  (a)  1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 227. The French men … especially vrged that the Scotes myght be comprised in the peace.

1596.  Drayton, Legends, I. 352. Further to urge what she before had said.

1638.  Junius, Paint. Ancients, 2. Wee doe therein urge somewhat further, that [etc.].

1672.  H. Stubbe, Justif. Dutch War, 24. The Queen urged, that … she was to be Arbitress.

1817.  Jas. Mill, Brit. India, II. IV. v. 217. It was urged … that the servants … ought not to be deprived of such precious advantages.

1885.  ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, ix. I urged that the disappearance of the … money … would tell against him.

  (b)  1689.  Prior, Epistle to Fleetwood Shephard, 78. So Atoms dancing round the Center, They urge, made all Things at a Venture.

a. 1743.  Ozell, trans. Brantome’s Sp. Rhodom. (1744), 67. M. de Lansac urged, It was absolutely necessary.

a. 1792.  Sir J. Reynolds, Journ. Flanders & Holland, Wks. 1797, II. 124. There is lightness, airiness, and facility in Rubens, his advocates will urge.

1838.  Dickens, Nickleby, vi. ‘Father,’ urged the maiden [to the monk],… ‘our daily alms have been distributed.’ Ibid. (1865), Mut. Fr., III. i. ‘Don’t break out, Lammle,’ urged Fledgeby, in a submissive tone.

1884.  trans. Lotze’s Logic, 424. We are left after all, it will be urged,… walled in within the all-embracing delusions of those ideas.

  2.  To advocate or advise earnestly (some course of action, etc.); to press with importunity, claim or demand pressingly.

1595.  Shaks., John, IV. ii. 204. Why vrgest thou so oft yong Arthurs death?

1596.  Warner, Alb. Eng., IX. xlvi. (1602), 217. Then proudly pricke the mounted Sers, the Harrolds … vrging fees to gentellize their name.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., IV. iii. 261. I should not vrge thy duty past thy might.

1661.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 5. The Lord Chancellour … is to urge of them the oath of supremacie.

1682.  Dryden, Medal, 187. What vengeance will they urge, Whose Ordures neither Plague nor Fire can purge.

1805.  Med. Jrnl., XIV. 206. I thought it my duty to urge the operation.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xxxiii. He hath ever urged peace with the malignants.

1831.  G. P. R. James, Phil. Augustus, II. v. The many, which were all eager to urge a course that … he would have been the first to follow, but [etc.].

  b.  With impersonal subject.

1592.  Kyd, Sp. Trag., III. i. 61. Embassadour, What news hath vrg’d this sodain entrance? Ibid., IV. iv. 87. I see your lookes vrge instance of these wordes.

1605.  Shaks., Lear, V. i. 52. The Enemy’s in view, draw vp your powers;… your hast Is now vrg’d on you.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 250. For solitude somtimes is best societie, And short retirement urges sweet returne.

1872.  Geo. Eliot, Middlem., lxxxvi. A past error may urge a grand retrieval.

  II.  3. To entreat or plead with (a person) pertinaceously; to importune, press, or ply with arguments or strong persuasion; to prompt, solicit, or request earnestly. Also, with impersonal subject: To incite or impel strongly.

1568.  Bible (Bishops’), Luke xi. 53. The lawyers and the pharisees began to vrge hym vehemently, and to prouoke hym to speake many thynges.

1586.  Day, Eng. Secretorie, II. (1625), 25. To vrge me as you doe, may but breed that which neither of vs may returne pleasing.

1595.  Shaks., John, II. i. 475. I see a yeelding in the lookes of France;… vrge them while their soules Are capeable of this ambition.

1640.  Habington, Queen of Arragon, II. 366. I urg’d Them with the meinory of their former deedes.

1667.  Milton, P. L., IX. 588. Hunger and thirst at once,… quick’nd at the scent Of that alluring fruit, urg’d me so keene.

1692.  Dryden, St. Euremont’s Ess., 24. Urged with an apprehension of their ruine, [they] abandoned themselves to the Conduct of Xantippus.

1717.  Pope, Iliad, X. 135. Strong necessity our toils demands,… and urges all our hands.

1814.  Jane Austen, Mansf. Park, xv. Do not urge her, madam…. It is not fair to urge her in this manner.

1847.  Helps, Friends in C., I. v. 83. Men … cannot be moved in masses as of old. At one time chivalry urged all men—then the Church.

1853.  J. H. Newman, Hist. Sk. (1873), I. 183. The barbarian … moves when he is urged by appetite.

  b.  Const. to with inf.; also with advs. (as on, onward) and preps.

  (a)  1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Insto, Vrge me not, or presse me not to iudge.

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., IV. ii. 157. Vrge the King To do me this last right.

1671.  Milton, Samson, 1677. A spirit of phrenzie … Who … urg’d them on with mad desire To call in hast for thir destroyer.

1753–4.  Richardson, Grandison, II. xxiii. 167. Should she engage without waiting for his consent: as she was urged to do, by Letters.

1816.  Scott, Bl. Dwarf, xviii. His patriotism urged him to serve his country abroad.

1891.  Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, xxix. Seneca … urged the Emperor to summon him into his presence.

  (b.)  1600.  1st Pt. Sir J. Oldcastle, IV. ii. 9. Pardon, my Lord; my conscience vrg’d me to it.

1776.  Paine, Com. Sense, 9. Hunger in the mean time would urge him from his work.

1791.  Cowper, Iliad, V. 904. Venus … and the Archer … have urged, themselves, to this The frantic Mars.

1832.  Lytton, Eugene A., I. v. They urge us onward, yet present no limit to our progress.

1846.  Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. iv. 98. He was not urging others to a course in which he never intended to venture himself.

1871.  Leisure Hour, 480/1. Two guineas paid to … his clerk, to urge him on with the works.

  † c.  To charge strongly with something. Also with that and clause. Obs.

1599.  Thynne, Animadv. (1875), 54. Speakinge to his wyfe, he urgethe her that she cannot denye yt.

1628.  Sir W. Mure, Spir. Hymne, 144. Thou of our innocence the ground, for vs, with guilt was vrgde.

1689.  Wood, Life (O.H.S.), III. 310. Speed’s daughter told the bishop of it and the bishop urg’d him with it.

1703.  Rowe, Fair Penit., V. i. Thou com’st to urge me with the wrongs I ha’ done thee.

  4.  a. To serve or act as a constraining influence on (something); to bear pressingly on; to spur, actuate, or constrain.

1576.  Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 62. More I may say to you, then any mans mynde is urged to accomplishe.

1592.  Kyd, Sp. Trag., III. iv. 14. A guiltie conscience, vrged with the thought Of former euils, easily cannot erre. Ibid., IV. iv. 145. But loue of him … Did vrge her resolution to be such.

1633.  Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, O. T., 620. Yee have extreamely urged the patience of the Lord.

1823.  Scott, Quentin D., ii. I … will pay fitting respect to your age, if you do not urge my patience with mockery.

1843.  Neale, Hymns for Sick, 23. Give me when those last trials urge Thy Very Flesh and Blood.

1878.  Masque Poets, 42. I was wrong to urge your will And wrong to mar your life.

  † b.  To treat (a mineral, etc.) with great heat.

1758.  Reid, trans. Macquer’s Chym., I. 69. If the calx of Tin be urged by a strong fire.

1828–32.  Webster, s.v., To urge an ore with intense heat.

  III.  5. To hasten or press forward (a proceeding, enterprise, etc.); to prosecute with effort, energy, or vigor; to push forward.

1565.  Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Insto, Instabit huic loco,… He shall vrge this, or be earnest in this.

1583.  Stubbes, Anat. Abus., I. H 4. [It] bringeth death before nature vrge it,… or age require it.

1598.  Hakluyt, Voy., I. 145. Swandepolcus … affirming that himselfe neuer prospered so long as he vrged warre against them.

1667.  Boyle, Orig. Formes & Qual., 430. This Substance … will … (if the Distillation have been urg’d far enough) [be] brittle.

1684.  Earl Roscom., Ess. Transl. Verse, 238. Urge your Success, deserve a lasting Name.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, V. 273. The Crew of Mnestheus,… with elated Minds, Urge their Success. Ibid., VII. 660. While Turnus urges thus his Enterprise.

1713.  Addison, Cato, III. v. Why wilt thou urge the fate Of wretched men?

1781.  Cowper, Table-T., 214. The peasants urge their harvest.

1789.  E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. 79. When … wither’d Famine urged the work of death.

1855.  Prescott, Philip II., I. viii. I. 239. Henry obstinately urged his fate, and compelled the count … to take the saddle.

1855.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xii. III. 213. The bills which the Commons were urging forward.

1885.  Daily Tel., 11 Sept. (Encycl. Dict.). Urging the carnage, and eyeing with pleasure all the horrors of war.

  transf.  1857.  Ruskin, Pol. Econ. Art, 110. Every kind deed … in relieving distress … would … open and urge, in a thousand unforeseen directions, the sluices of commerce and the springs of industry.

  6.  To press forcibly in some direction; to force or impel forward or onward; to drive. Also with preps. or advs., as against, away, down, through.

1594.  Kyd, Cornelia, V. 188. Now we of our side vrge them to retreate, And nowe before them we retyre as fast.

1634.  Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 87. The first walke is set with pipes of Lead and Brasse, through which the water is vrged.

1693.  T. Creech, Juvenal, XIII. 93. Rivers chang’d to Blood Roul wond’rous Waves, or urge a Milky Flood.

1742.  Pope, Dunc., IV. 592. From Stage to Stage the licens’d Earl may run,… The Senator at Cricket urge the Ball.

1791.  Cowper, Iliad, V. 70. For Menelaus … the spear urged through his breast.

1813.  Byron, Corsair, III. xv. The blue waves sport around the stern they urge.

1827.  Faraday, Chem. Manip., xvi. 395. The latter [sc. air] being urged away from the tube by a force proportionate [etc.].

1862.  Calverley, Verses & Tr., 16. Still I see you … Urge, towards the table’s centre,… the squail.

  transf.  1737.  Pope, Imit. Hor., Ep., II. ii. 253. Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave.

1821.  Shelley, Adonais, xxi. As long as skies are blue,… Evening must usher night, night urge the morrow.

  fig.  1870.  Bryant, Iliad, II. I. 77. The fates Decreed their early death and urged them on.

  b.  To cause to move, hasten, or gather speed; to accelerate the pace of; to speed up. Usu. with advs. (as forward, on) or preps.

a. 1721.  Prior, Journey to Copt-Hall, 12. I mount, and … With unarm’d kick urge on my horse.

1760.  Fawkes, trans. Anacreon, Ode, lix. 8. With tighten’d Rein, I’ll urge thee round the dusty Plain.

1821.  Shelley, Epithalamion, 20. Nay, return, Vesper! urge thy lazy car!

1846.  Mrs. A. Marsh, Father Darcy, II. xix. 317. Their wearied horses … gave evidence of the fierce desperation with which they had been urged forward.

1902.  Violet Jacob, Sheep-stealers, x. Coach men were urging their horses up to the door.

  refl.  1805.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (ed. 2), II. 159. [Birds] urge themselves forward in the air by means of wings.

  c.  To press or pursue (one’s flight, way, the chase); to hasten or accelerate (one’s pace, etc.).

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 75. High Epidaurus urges on my speed, Fam’d for his hills, and for his horses’ breed.

1703.  Pope, Thebais, 558. Hapless Tydeus … Thro’ the thick deserts headlong urg’d his flight.

1735.  Somerville, Chase, III. 543. He … up the Breeze Urges his Course with eager Violence.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Elegies, xvi. 94. Led by their beams I urg’d the pleasing chase.

1801.  M. G. Lewis, Tales of Wonder, Sir Hengist, ii. Sir Hengist urged his courser’s pace.

1804.  W. L. Bowles, Spir. Discov., IV. 579. With De Quiros to the South Still urge thy way.

1840.  Thirlwall, Greece, VII. 61. He had several motives to urge his progress.

1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm., xvi. 349. I should have to urge my way through the works of our best writers.

  7.  a. To stimulate to expression or action; to provoke or excite; to increase or intensify.

1594.  1st Pt. Contention (1843), 24. Forbeare ambitious Prelate to vrge my griefe.

1594.  Kyd, Cornelia, I. 166. The wrath of heauen (though vrg’d) we see is slow In punishing the euils we haue done.

1616.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., II. iv. 516. Anger and pitty, in his manly brest, Urge, yet restraine his teares.

1800.  trans. Lagrange’s Chem., I. 401. Then urge the fire gradually, bring the crucible to a white heat.

1820.  Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 42. While from their loud abysses howling throng The genii of the storm, urging the rage Of whirlwind.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 1124. The heat having been briskly urged for a short time.

1865.  J. M. Neale, Hymns on Paradise, 28. All his spite my Tempter urges.

  b.  To provoke to anger; to irritate or annoy. Also with clause (quot. 1593). Now dial.

1593.  Lodge, Will. Longbeard, E 3. This is it that urgeth me that I fall into his hands.

1655.  [see URGING ppl. a. 1 b].

1876–.  in dialect use (Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v. URGE v.¹ 2).

  8.  To ply vigorously; to use, work, or employ briskly or diligently.

1697.  Dryden, Æneis, V. 301. Both urge their Oars.

a. 1760.  I. H. Browne, Fireside Poems (1768), 126. I urge the gay flask With a set of old friends.

1820.  Shelley, Fragm. Satire on Sat., 25. Follow his flight with winged words, and urge The strokes of the inexorable scourge.

  IV.  intr. 9. To press by inquiry or statement; to adduce or bring forward arguments, allegations, etc. Also const. to with inf.

1592.  Soliman & Pers., III. i. 73. Erastus, ile not yet vrge to know the cause That brought thee hether.

1613.  Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. iii. 48. I doe beseech your Lordships, That … my Accusers … may stand forth face to face, And freely vrge against me.

1804.  Something Odd, I. 130. When she had no company at home, he would urge to go and seek it abroad.

1818.  Shelley, Julian, 616. I urged and questioned still, she told me how All happened.

  b.  To press solicitously, make a strong claim, for something.

1607.  Shaks., Timon, III. ii. 13. One of his men … vrg’d extreamly for’t [sc. money], and shewed what necessity belong’d too’t.

1660.  Sharrock, Vegetables, 67. Infinite storyes of strange conjunctions which urge earnestly for credit.

1726.  Swift, Serm. Martyrd. K. Chas., Wks. 1765, XV. 134. That wicked faction…, not content with all those marks of his justice.., urged still for more.

1753–4.  Richardson, Grandison, II. ix. 60. He again urged for her hand, and for a private marriage.

1769.  Goldsm., Hist. Rome, I. 183. The tribunes … began once more to urge for the removal.

  † c.  To strive for (mastery). Obs.^–1

1691.  trans. Emilianne’s Frauds Rom. Monks (ed. 3), 302. His lovely Countenance, where the Lilly and the Rose did urge for Mastery.

  10.  To press, push, or hasten on. Esp. with advs., as along, on, onward, upward.

1605–8.  Donne, To Sir H. Goodyere, 8. A Palace … decayes: But hee which dwels there, is not so; for hee Strives to urge upward, and his fortune raise.

1653.  Milton, Psalm vii. 21. Rise Jehovah in thine ire, Rouze thy self amidst the rage Of my foes that urge like fire.

1692.  Prior, Ode, Imit. Horace, V. 31. Darius flies, young Amnon urges on.

1712.  Steele, Spect., No. 374, ¶ 1. Those behind him, if he does not urge on, will tread him down.

1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 27. Thou hast heard the thorn’s in flower, And childhood’s bliss is urging on.

1857.  Susanna Winkworth, trans. Life Tauler, ix. 247. Through all this he shall urge onward, till [etc.].

1907.  Westm. Gaz., 19 Oct., 3/1. A woman…, moaning inarticulately, urges wearily along.

  11.  To act as an impelling or prompting motive, stimulus, or force; to incite or stimulate; to exercise pressure or constraint.

1645.  Waller, Poems, 142. Let Brutes … that cannot thinke, So far as drought and Nature urges, drinke.

1656.  Smith, Pract. Physick, 147. Since two things do urge, either Malignity or the Feaver; if that urge, most Antidotes are necessary.

a. 1660.  Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), I. 157. Therefore thriued your precept may vrge, but your example is not souldierlike.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 66. Hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end Still urges.

1698.  Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 172. The present Occasions urging, and [they] being willing to blind themselves.

1716.  Pope, Iliad, VI. 453. The combat urges, and my soul’s on fire.

1752.  Hume, Pol. Disc., viii. 138. Necessity calls, fear urges, reason exhorts.

1791.  Cowper, Iliad, V. 848. The time Urges, and need appears that we ourselves Now call to mind the fury of our might.

1805–6.  Cary, Dante’s Inf., IV. 21. Our length of way Urges to haste.

  † b.  To be of weight or importance. Obs.

1654.  Z. Coke, Logick, 145. A Syllogism leading to absurdity, much urgeth in disputing.

  Hence Urged ppl. a.

1595.  Daniel, Civ. Wars, IV. lxxxiv. Whilst looking onely on the vrged crime Vnto the farther drift they take no heed.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, XVI. 264. Remember you express Your late-urged virtue.

1628.  Feltham, Resolves, II. lxv. 186. Gifts are the greatest Vsurie; because a two-fold retribution is an vrged effect, that a Noble nature prompts vs to.

1786.  Burns, On W. Chalmers, ii. I am nae stranger to … his warm-urged wishes.

1883.  Duncan, Clin. Lect. Dis. Women (ed. 2), ii. 8. And such urged passing [of uterine bougie] induces spasms.