Do we say "push at/on something" to mean "to take hold of something and push it several times"?

Question

According to the dictionary,

pull at/on something:

to take hold of something and pull it several times

Mary was pulling nervously at her hair.

For example, a fisherman pulled at/on his fishing rod.

Now say, you are standing in front of a door but can not open it because it is blocked by some very heavy thing on the other side.

It is very hard to push the door and the heavy thing all in one go.

Instead, most people will push the door repeatedly several times with the hope that will make the crack or gap bigger so that we can squeeze through the the crack or gap.

Do we say "push at/on something" to mean "to take hold of something and push it several times", the same way we say "pull at/on something"?

Answer 1

Yes, we can use push at in that sense, whether you 'take hold of' the door or simply lean your shoulder against it. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/push+at .

We can say push on something - push on also has an idiomatic meaning 'continue doing something that is hard work or difficult' or 'carry on with a journey'.