hurl

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hurlen, also horlen and hourlen,^[2][3][4] probably of imitative origin,^{[2][5][6][7][8][9]} although the OED and Barnhart call it uncertain.^[10][11] The closest match is Low German hurreln (“to toss, throw, dash”), with Dutch horrel (“a push, a jog”) and East Frisian Low German hurreln (“to roar, bluster”); none of these continental words can be traced to the medieval period, according to the OED, which connects them with an echoic base expressing rapid motion.^[10][12][3] Klein sees an -l enlargement of that base, and relates it to hurry.^[3][4] Skeat thought of Scandinavian origin,^[13] and Johnson derived it from Icelandic or, after Skinner, from whirl.^[14] In early Middle English it was often confused with hurtle and with harl, to drag, and later associated with the verb for spinning, in compounds for a whirlpool and a whirlwind.^[10][15]

Earliest recorded meaning

To rush or be driven with violence: before 1300, in the Cursor Mundi.^[10] Barnhart finds the verb probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle,^[11] and Etymonline dates it to the early 13th century, with the sense of colliding.^[12]

Semantic evolution

Violent movement came first, and throwing grew out of it: to drive with force from about 1305, to throw down from before 1375, and to fling a missile from before 1400.^[10] The older intransitive sense "rush" is now obsolete or archaic, except in Scots.^[10][6] From 1590, in Spenser, the verb applied to words, threats and glances thrown out with force, as in the modern hurl insults.^[10][9] The noun split into several lines from different senses of the verb, as the OED says: the rush of water (before 1400), strife (about 1440), a violent throw (1530), a rush of stones down a slope in Scots (about 1550).^[10][6] Johnson (1755) knew the noun only as tumult or commotion.^[14] In Scots and northern English, and in Ireland, hurl also meant to convey in a cart or wheel a barrow,^[16][9] and the noun a ride in a vehicle, from 1822 in Carlyle.^[10][9] Hurling is the name of a game in Ireland, and the verb is recorded for it from 1766,^[10][16] and a hurl is the stick used in it from 1791.^[10][5] Australian and South African slang has hurl, to vomit, from 1963.^[17]

Timeline

• before 1300 – to rush or move with violence.^[10]
• c. 1305 – to drive with impetuous force.^[10]
• before 1375 – to throw down, overthrow.^[10]
• before 1400 – to fling a missile; noun, a rush of water.^[10]
• c. 1440 – noun, strife, commotion (obsolete by 1653).^[10]
• 1530 – noun, a violent throw.^[10][11]
• c. 1550 – noun, in Scots, a rush of stones down a slope.^[10]
• 1590 – to utter with vehemence.^[10]
• 1766 – to play the game of hurling.^[10]
• 1791 – noun, the stick used in hurling.^[10]
• 1822 – noun, in Scots, a ride in a vehicle.^[10]
• 1963 – in Australian slang, to vomit.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw or propel with great force: She hurled the javelin across the field.^[9][5][10]
2. To utter with force: The crowd hurled abuse at the referee.^[9][10]
3. To move rapidly or violently; to rush or hurtle.^[5][10]
4. In Scots, to convey or be conveyed in a vehicle.^[9][5][16]
5. To play the game of hurling.^[10][16]
6. In Australian and South African slang, to vomit.^[17]

Noun

1. An act of hurling; a forceful throw.^[9][5][10]
2. In Scots, a ride in a vehicle.^[9][10]
3. In Scots, a noisy rush of stones down a slope.^[5][10][6]
4. The stick used in that game.^[5][10]
5. A rush or swirl of water (rare).^[5][6][10]
6. Strife, commotion (obsolete, c. 1440–1653).^[10][6][14]

Word family

• hurler
• unhurled
• outhurl

Related words

• hurry
• hurtle
• whirl
• hurly-burly
• hurley
• hurling
• harl

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ a b c d Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
17. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com