1.A violent push or driving, as with a pointed weapon moved in the direction of its length, or with the hand or foot, or with any instrument; a stab; a word much used as a term of fencing. "(Polites) Pyrrhus with his lance pursues, And often reaches, and his thrusts renews."
2.An attack; an assault. "One thrust at your pure, pretended mechanism."
3.(Mech.) The force or pressure of one part of a construction against other parts; especially (Arch.), a horizontal or diagonal outward pressure, as of an arch against its abutments, or of rafters against the wall which support them.
4.(Mining) The breaking down of the roof of a gallery under its superincumbent weight.