Astronomy and spaceflight

Der Schub is what a rocket engine delivers: the thrust that has to exceed the rocket’s weight before it can leave the pad. Meet the word outside this list, though, and it has quietly changed jobs. A hospital letter describing ein Schub of multiple sclerosis means a flare-up, an episode after a quiet spell. A report on ein neuer Schub an Bewerbungen means a batch that arrived together, and in Schüben is in waves. A reform that gives the economy einen Schub gives it a boost. What joins them is a push that comes all at once rather than steadily, and that is also the test for translating it: thrust in an engine, a flare-up in a patient, a wave at the door, a boost in a budget. The plural is die Schübe, with an umlaut, in every one of these senses.