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Hurdle

//ˈhɜːdl̩// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
Noun
  1. 1
    An artificial barrier, variously constructed, over which athletes or horses jump in a race.

    "He ran in the 100 metres hurdles."

  2. 2
    Misspelling of hurtle. alt-of, misspelling
  3. 3
    the act of jumping over an obstacle wordnet
  4. 4
    An obstacle, real or perceived, physical or abstract. figuratively

    "My last stop was an outdoor speech to a huge crowd of Ukrainians whom I urged to stay on the course of freedom and economic reform. Kiev was beautiful in the late spring sunshine, and I hoped its people could keep up the high spirits I had observed in the crowd. They still had many hurdles to clear."

  5. 5
    a light movable barrier that competitors must leap over in certain races wordnet
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  1. 6
    A movable frame of wattled twigs, osiers, or withes and stakes, or sometimes of iron, used for enclosing land, for folding sheep and cattle, for gates, etc.; also, in fortification, used as revetments, and for other purposes.

    "The practice of folding sheep was general, and the purchase of hurdles was a regular charge in the shepherd's account."

  2. 7
    an obstacle that you are expected to overcome wordnet
  3. 8
    A sled or crate on which criminals were drawn to the place of execution. UK, historical

    "In treason, the corporal punishment is by drawing on hurdle from the place of the prison to the place of execution, and by hanging and being cut down alive, bowelling, and quartering: and in women by burning."

  4. 9
    A piece that is jumped over by a hopper piece.

    "Pieces that can move only by hopping over other pieces are termed Hoppers. It should be noted that hoppers capture in the usual way by eviction, they do not capture the hurdles over which they hop. The most popular hoppers are: The Equihopper (G. Leathem FCR 1938) which hops to the same distance beyond the hurdle as it is from it."

Verb
  1. 1
    To jump over something while running.

    "He hurdled the bench in his rush to get away."

  2. 2
    Misspelling of hurtle. alt-of, misspelling
  3. 3
    jump a hurdle wordnet
  4. 4
    To compete in the track and field events of hurdles (e.g. high hurdles).
  5. 5
    To overcome an obstacle.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    To hedge, cover, make, or enclose with hurdles.

    "Watching where shepherds pen their flocks at eve In hurdled cotes amid the field secure"

  2. 7
    To jump over another piece without capturing it.

    "Kangaroo (KA): as G, but hurdles over any two units to land on the first square beyond the second unit (the two units need not be adjacent). […] Saltador (SA): can move without capturing to the same squares as an S, whenever either of the intermediate squares is occupied (by hurdling); can capture on the same squares as an S whenever either of the intermediate squares is empty."

Etymology

Etymology 1

] From Middle English hurdel, hirdel, herdel, hyrdel, from Old English hyrdel (“frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier”), diminutive of *hyrd, from Proto-Germanic *hurdiz, from Pre-Germanic *kr̥h₂tis, from Proto-Indo-European *kreh₂-. Cognate with Dutch horde, German Hürde.

Etymology 2

] From Middle English hurdel, hirdel, herdel, hyrdel, from Old English hyrdel (“frame of intertwined twigs used as a temporary barrier”), diminutive of *hyrd, from Proto-Germanic *hurdiz, from Pre-Germanic *kr̥h₂tis, from Proto-Indo-European *kreh₂-. Cognate with Dutch horde, German Hürde.

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