jostle

Etymology

Originally justle (“to have sex with”), formed from Middle English jousten, from the Old French joster (“to joust”), from Latin iuxtā (“next to”), from iungō (“join, connect”), equivalent to joust + -le.

verb

1. (transitive, intransitive) To bump into or brush against while in motion; to push aside.
2. (intransitive) To move through by pushing and shoving.
   Axia and Amory, acquaintances of an hour, jostled behind a waiter to a table at a point of vantage; there they took seats and watched. 1920, F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise, Book One, Chapter 3
3. (transitive) To be close to or in physical contact with.
4. (intransitive) To contend or vie in order to acquire something.
   1917, Rudyard Kipling, “The Children,” poem accompanying the story “The Honours of War” in A Diversity of Creatures, London: Macmillan, pp. 129-130, […] Our statecraft, our learning Delivered them bound to the Pit and alive to the burning Whither they mirthfully hastened as jostling for honour.
   The relative popularity of the Kyle of Lochalsh service is unsurprising, given how the famous route jostles with the West Highland Line for the title of Scotland's (and indeed the world's) most scenic rail journey. October 20 2021, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 47
5. (dated, slang) To pick or attempt to pick pockets.

noun

1. The act of jostling someone or something; push, shove.
   1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: J. Cooke, 1765, p. 241, I had full hold of her Watch, but giving a great Jostle, as if somebody had thrust me against her, and in the Juncture giving the Watch a fair pull, I found it would not come, so I let it go that Moment, and cried out as if I had been killed, that somebody had trod upon my Foot […]
2. The action of a jostling crowd.
   1865, Harriet Beecher Stowe (under the pseudonym Christopher Crowfield), The Chimney-Corner, Boston: Ticknor & Field, 1868, Chapter 12, p. 291, For years to come, the average of lone women will be largely increased; and the demand, always great, for some means by which they many provide for themselves, in the rude jostle of the world, will become more urgent and imperative.