Definition of "propel"

propel

/pɹəˈpɛl/

verb
third-person singular simple present propels, present participle propelling, simple past and past participle propelled
1. (transitive) To provide an impetus for motion or physical action, to cause to move in a certain direction; to drive forward.
  Quotations
  When it had advanced from the wood, it hopped much after the fashion of a kangaroo, using its hind feet and tail to propel it, and when it stood erect, it sat upon its tail.
  1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.; republished as chapter V, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927,
  Primary mass relays can propel ships thousands of light years, often from one spiral arm of the galaxy to another.
  2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Mass Relays Codex entry
2. (transitive, figurative) To provide an impetus for non-physical change, to make to arrive to a certain situation or result.
  Quotations
  I can discern your nature and see that even without any arguments (logoi) from me it will propel you to what you say you are drawn towards,
  2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 265e
  Black women helped propel Harris and president-elect Joe Biden to victory by elevating turnout in places like Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
  2020 November 7, Chelsea Janes, “Kamala Harris, daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants, elected nation’s first female vice president”, in Washington Post‎

Definition of "propel"

propel

verb

Quotations

Quotations