English Explanatory Dictionary

hurtle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To propel or throw (something) hard or violently; to fling, to hurl.
  2. To cause (someone or something) to collide with or hit another person or thing; or (two people or things) to collide with or hit each other.
  3. To attack or criticize (someone) verbally or in writing.
  4. To move rapidly, violently, or without control, especially in a noisy manner.
  5. Of a person or thing: to collide with or hit another person or thing, especially with force or violence; also, of two people or things: to collide together; to clash.
  6. To make a sound of things clashing or colliding together; to clatter, to rattle; hence, to move with such a sound.
  7. Of two people, etc.: to meet in a shocking or violent encounter; to clash; to jostle.
noun
  1. An act of colliding with or hitting; a collision.
  2. A rapid or uncontrolled movement; a dash, a rush.
  3. A sound of clashing or colliding; a clattering, a rattling.
  4. (Violent) disagreement; conflict.
noun
  1. Synonym of hurtleberry or whortleberry (“any of several shrubs belonging to the genus Vaccinium; a berry of one of these shrubs”).
noun
  1. Misspelling of hurdle.

Pronunciation

/ˈhɜːtl̩/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-AcpoKrane-hurtle.wav /ˈhɜɹt(ə)l/ [-ɾ(ə)l]

Word forms

hurtle hurtles hurtling hurtled no-table-tags glossary hurtlest hurtledst hurtleth

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English hurtelen, hurtlen (“to cast, hurl, throw; to charge at; to clash in combat, fight; to collide; to injure; to knock down; to propel, push, thrust; to rush; to stumble”) [and other forms], from hurten (“to injure, wound, hurt (physically or figuratively); to damage, impair; to hurt one’s feelings, humiliate; to receive an injury; to collide into; to propel, push, thrust; to stumble”) (see further at English hurt (verb)) + -el-, -elen (frequentative suffix). The English word is analysable as hurt (“(obsolete) to knock; to strike”) + -le (frequentative suffix). The noun is derived from the verb.

Synonyms

bung cast chuck chunk cook dash dump feck fling jerk heave hield hoy huck hurl hurtle launch lob peck peg pick pitch precipitate project quoit shy slight skew sling thrill throw toss traject warp whang whip whop wing hightail move quickly skedaddle hurt hurtleberry whortleberry

Derived words

hurtler hurtlingly hurtling
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on H Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary