Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Repel

Repel (r?-p?l") , transitive verb

[Latin repellere, repulsum; pref. re- re- + pellere to drive. See Pulse a beating, and compare Repulse, Repeal.]

1.
To drive back; to force to return; to check the advance of; to repulse as, to repel an enemy or an assailant.
Hippomedon repelled the hostile tide. — Pope
They repelled each other strongly, and yet attracted each other strongly. — Macaulay
2.
To resist or oppose effectually; as, to repel an assault, an encroachment, or an argument.
[He] gently repelled their entreaties. — Hawthorne

Repel , intransitive verb

To act with force in opposition to force impressed; to exercise repulsion.