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hur·dle

(hûrdl)

1. Sports

a. A light portable barrier over which competitors must leap in certain races.

b. hurdles A race in which a series of such barriers must be jumped without the competitors' breaking their stride.

c. A leaping step made off one foot as means of maximizing spring at the end of an approach, as to a dive.

2. An obstacle or difficulty to be overcome: the last hurdle before graduation.

3. Chiefly British A portable framework made of intertwined branches or wattle and used for temporary fencing.

4. Chiefly British A frame or sledge on which condemned persons were dragged to execution.

v. hur·dled, hur·dling, hur·dles

v.tr.

1. To leap over (a barrier) in or as if in a race.

2. To overcome or deal with successfully; surmount: hurdle a problem.

v.intr.

To leap over a barrier or other obstacle.

[Middle English hurdel, portable panel for temporary fences, from Old English hyrdel.]

hurdler n.

(click for a larger image)

hurdles

left to right: Konstadinos Douvalidis of Greece, David Payne of the United States, and Mikel Thomas of Trinidad and Tobago at the 2008 Olympic Games

Beijing, China

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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