urge

Etymology

From Latin urgeō (“urge”).

noun

1. A strong desire; an itch to do something.
   After seeing the advert for a soft drink, I had a sudden urge to buy a bottle.
   sexual urges
   repress your urges
   satisfy your urges
   Unless I’m wrong / I but obey / The urge of a song: / I’m—bound—away! 1962, Robert Frost, “Away!”, in In the Clearing

verb

1. (transitive) To press; to push; to drive; to impel; to force onward.
   Lo hapless Tydeus, whose ill-fated hand / Had slain his brother, leaves his native land, / And seized with horror in the shades of night, / Through the thick deserts headlong urged his flight[…] 1703, Statius, translated by Alexander Pope, edited by William Charles Macready, Thebais, London: Bradbury & Evans, translation of original in Classical Latin, published 1849, page 129
2. (transitive) To put mental pressure on; to ply with motives, arguments, persuasion, or importunity.
   My boss urged me to reconsider my decision to leave the company, even offering a pay rise.
3. (transitive) To provoke; to exasperate.
   Vrge not my fathers anger (Eglamoure) / But thinke vpon my griefe (a Ladies griefe) / And on the iuſtice of my flying hence, / To keepe me from a moſt vnholy match, / Which heauen and fortune ſtill rewards with plagues. 1589–1593, William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies, London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, act IV, scene iii, page 24
   “I can answer a civil question civilly,” said the youth ; “and will pay fitting respect to your age, if you do not urge my patience with mockery. Since I have been here in France and Flanders, men have called me, in their fantasy, the Varlet with the Velvet Pouch, because of this hawk-purse which I carry by my side ; but my true name, when at home, is Quentin Durward.” 1823, Sir Walter Scott, chapter II, in Quentin Durward, volume I, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co., page 35
4. (transitive) To press hard upon; to follow closely.
   Man ? and for ever ? wretch ! what wouldst thou have ? / Heir urges heir, like wave impelling wave. a. 1744, Horace, “The Second Epistle of the Second Book of Horace”, in Alexander Pope, transl., The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, volume III, London: William Pickering, translation of A Renunciation of Lyric Poetry (in Classical Latin), published 1851
5. (transitive) To present in an urgent manner; to insist upon.
   to urge an argument; to urge the necessity of a case
6. (transitive, obsolete) To treat with forcible means; to take severe or violent measures with.
   to urge an ore with intense heat
7. (transitive) To press onward or forward.
8. (transitive) To be pressing in argument; to insist; to persist.