Push of oneself on

[Johnyxxx]

Hi,

Can anybody tell me what the bold text means?

‘Lock-up time came at last. And George took his candle and went up to bed. Not quite as willing as usual, I fancied; though he had always been a glutton for his full meed of sleep. You could notice by the sound of his feet on the stairs that he was as you might say pushing of himself on. As for me, it had always been my way to sit up after him reading a bit with the Reverend’s Times. But that night, I went off early. I gave a last look in on the old gentleman, and I might as well mention – though dilatory isn’t the word for these doctors, even when they are called in in reasonable time – I say a nurse had been sent for, and his sister was now expected any day from Scotland.


Crewe, Walter de la Mare, 1929

Thank you very much.

 

[emsr2d2]

The "of" shouldn't be there (and there are commas missing).

You could notice by the sound of his feet on the stairs that he was, as you might say, pushing himself on.

Books from 1929 aren't great for practising your English. For example, the word "meed" probably wouldn't even be understood by most native speakers. Nor, I dare say, would "dilatory".

 

[Johnyxxx]

I do not practise my English by reading 1920s books. I read these old stories because I am fond of weird/horror literature cca. 1880 - 1940.

 

[GoesStation]

Thanks for explaining this, Johnny. I was just about to ask you where your interest in the obscure texts you post about came from.

 

[Lynxear]

It sounds to me that the author was trying a new expression in his story. Perhaps back then "pushing of himself on" was the proper use of the expression. Of course, in modern parlance we would say "pushing himself on".

I thought there was a typo when I saw the word "meed". I looked it up and it seems it is an archaic word meaning "a deserved share or reward". That would suggest that we should cut the author some slack when we read writing from almost 100 years ago, I suppose.

 

[Lynxear]

I do not practise my English by reading 1920s books. I read these old stories because I am fond of weird/horror literature cca. 1880 - 1940.

I wonder if you are aware of 2 absolutely amazing sources of old books and pulp fiction magazines.

The first is Project Gutenberg. They convert old literature or documents to e-book format and provide them free of charge. These are not edited or shortened at all. They are in complete form.

For example, this is "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" by Mark Twain written in 1889 including all 44 chapters and all illustrations.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/86/86-h/86-h.htm#c44

This is a link to their "Fiction" bookshelf so that you can find other works of fiction. (They convert more than just fiction books)

https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Fiction_Bookshelf


If you like Pulp Science fiction from the 1930's and 1940's, here is a free website to fascinate you - The Pulp Fiction Magazine Project

http://www.pulpmags.org/search.php


Enjoy! These sites are wonderful.

 

[Johnyxxx]

Thanks a lot for the tips, Lynxear. I will definitely give them a try. Chiefly the last one looks very promising.