Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CRUSH, v.t. [Fr. ecraser; Ir. scriosam. In Sw. krossa, in Dan. kryster signifies, to squeeze. In It. croscio is a crushing; and crosciare, to throw, strike, pour, or rain hard. There are many words in the Shemitic languages which coincide with crush in elements and signification. Ch. Heb. Syr. גרס, to break in pieces; Ar. جَرَسَ garasa, id.; Eth. ሐረጸ charats, to grind, whence grist; Heb. and Ch. הרץ, and Ch. Syr. Heb. רצץ, to break, to crush; Ar. رَضَّ the same. So crash, in English, and Fr. briser, Arm. freusa, to bruise. See Class Rd, No. 16, 20, 22, 41, 48, and Syr. No. 36. See Rush.]

1. To press and bruise between two hard bodies; to squeeze, so as to force a thing out of its natural shape; to bruise by pressure. The ass … crushed Balsam's foot against the wall. – Num. xxii. To crush grapes or apples, is to squeeze them till bruised and broken, so that the juice escapes. Hence, to crush out, is to force out by pressure.
2. To press with violence; to force together into a mass.
3. To overwhelm by pressure; to beat or force down, by an incumbent weight, with breaking or bruising; as, the man was crushed by the fall of a tree. To crush the pillars which the pile sustain. – Dryden. Who are crushed before the moth. Job iv.
4. To overwhelm by power; to subdue; to conquer beyond resistance; as, to crush one's enemies; to crush a rebellion.
5. To oppress grievously. Thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed always. – Deut. xxviii.
6. To bruise and break into fine particles by beating or grinding; to comminute.