Definition of "repulse" []

• To drive back; repel. (verb-transitive)
• To rebuff or reject with rudeness, coldness, or denial. (verb-transitive)
• Usage Problem To cause repugnance or distaste in. (verb-transitive)
• The act of repulsing or the state of being repulsed. (noun)
• Rejection; refusal. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Now and then, volleys of musketry, or a repulse from the Southern batteries on the heights, filled the blue morning sky with belching scarlet flame and smoke: through all, however, the long train of army-wagons passed over the pontoon-bridge, bearing the wounded."
• "The great battle of Fredericksburg, in which the Federal armies sustained a disastrous repulse, is described in the Supplement, page"
• "The first intimation he had of a repulse was the trembling of Rachel's arm in his."