Definition of "onrush"

The love within us and the love withoutAre mixed, confounded; if we are loved or love,We scarce distinguish. So, with other power.Being acted on and acting seem the same:In that first onrush of life’s chariot-wheels,We know not if the forests move or we.

1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh‎, New York: C.S. Francis & Co., published 1857, First Book, pp. 32-33

For a brief moment the onrush of the egwugwu [masked men representing ancestral spirits] was checked by the unexpected composure of the two men. But it was only a momentary check, like the tense silence between blasts of thunder. The second onrush was greater than the first. It swallowed up the two men.

1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 22, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959

So persistent is the onrush of new construction in New York that the first temptation for the architecture buff is to track down the latest things, be they good or bad […]

1987 July 31, Paul Goldberger, “A Baker’s Dozen of New York City’s Urban Masterpieces”, in New York Times

Werner’s run had created the space and Havertz got there before the onrushing Ederson, catching a little break off the goalkeeper before rolling it into the empty net.

2021 May 29, David Hytner, “Chelsea win Champions League after Kai Havertz stuns Manchester City”, in The Guardian‎