The characters/ideograms mean, “greeting used between close male friends; Hi!; yes sir!; Yo!.” The first character means, “push; stop; check; subdue; attach; seize; weight; shove; press; seal; do in spite of,” the second character means, “endure; bear; put up with; conceal; secrete; spy; sneak.”
This term is overused in martial arts circles. Especially in the West where the use is inappropriate and misunderstood as being indicative of martial arts training where a student uses it indiscriminately to indicate they are pushing hard despite physical and mental exhaustion. It is used in Western dojo as follows:
1) As a greeting to fellow dojo practitioners, etc.
2) As a response to a question or instruction, i.e. in lieu of Hai for yes or other terms to mean, “I Understand, etc.”
3) As a means of showing respect say in a tournament or sparring sessions, i.e. said when bowing before and after a contest.
4) As a compliment when one practitioner wants to acknowledge the skill of another.
5) As used after the execution of a technique although I personally cannot fathom why this is so.
In a nutshell, it is about a custom and cultural etiquette for the Asian or Japanese societal practice. Much like bowing as a greeting that naturally followed into the dojo and westerners, at the start, assumed it was specific to the dojo etiquette requirements.
If Osu (Oss) is used in any dojo in Japan it is not because it is a specific martial term and practice but simply a thing adopted from the use between close-male-friends used as a curt greeting between friends. Since the early days of martial arts training were dominated by males and most students were younger males along with the closeness developed in the dojo tribe it seems practical that such a cultural method of greeting would enter into the community of the dojo. In addition, the use of Osu is more a modern thing than the passing down of an ancient cultural etiquette of martial budo.
For additional information on this term see the posting by Karate by Jesse where he postulates about its use through three theories, i.e. the Koykushin, the Good Morning, and the Onegaishimasu theories.
Now that the use of Osu in the dojo has been covered there are other references to the term or word, “osu,” that can be seen as follows:
おすosu common · オスOSU 【雄 · 牡】
noun / noun with genitive case particle の:
male (animal) → 雌
おすosu common 【押す · 圧す · 捺す】
godan す verb → conjugation / transitive:
押す：to push; to press
押す · 圧す：to apply pressure from above; to press down
押す · 捺す：to stamp (i.e. a passport); to apply a seal; → 判を押す
押す：to affix (e.g. gold leaf)
押す：to press (someone for something); to urge; to compel; to influence
押す · 圧す：to overwhelm; to overpower; to repress
押す：to push (events along); to advance (a plan)
押す：to do in spite of ...; to do even though ...; to force
押す：to make sure → ねんをおす【念を押す】 / だめをおす【駄目を押す】
押す：to be pressed for time
押す：to advance troops; to attack
押す：(of light) to be diffused across an entire surface
おすosu common 【推す】
godan す verb → conjugation / transitive:
to infer; to conclude; to support
In closing, do I use osu? Nope
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