▪ I. † hurtle, n.1 Obs. or dial.
[? related to hurt n.1, or to F. heurt a blow, the mark of a blow: see hurt n.2]
A swelling upon the skin.
| 1599 T. M[oufet] Silkwormes 74 Vpon whose palmes such warts and hurtells rise As may in poulder grate a nutmegge thick. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide ii. v. (1738) 188 A vast number of Tubercles and little Hurdles. 1847–78 Halliwell, Hurtle, a spot. Heref. |
▪ II. † hurtle, n.2 Obs. rare.
= hurt n.3, hurtleberry: see also whortle. Comb. hurtle-tree, the dwarf shrub that bears the hurtleberry.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal 1229 Vaccinia nigra the blacke Whortle or Hurtle is a base and lowe tree or woodie plant. a 1630 in Risdon Surv. Devon §312 (1810) 322 Taw..Whose sides are stor'd with many a hurtle tree. |
▪ III. hurtle, n.3 poet. and rhet.
(ˈhɜːt(ə)l)
[f. hurtle v.]
The action or an act of hurtling; dashing together, collision, conflict; clashing sound.
| 1773 J. Ross Fratricide v. 10 (MS.) The elements..had wag'd Tremendous hurtle. 1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh ix. 835, I flung closer to his breast..And, in that hurtle of united souls [etc.]. 1867 Musgrave Nooks Old France II. x. 310 The hurtle of the arrows. |
▪ IV. hurtle, v. Now only literary or arch.
(ˈhɜːt(ə)l)
Also 4 hortel, 4–7 hurtel, 5 hurtul.
[app. a diminutive and iterative of hurt v., in its original sense of ‘strike with a shock’.
Palsgrave (1530) and Cotgrave (1611) give a F. hurteller ‘to trample on with the feet’, which corresponds in form; but this appears to be a late formation.
Sometimes confused with hurl; but the essential notion in hurtle is that of forcible collision, in hurl that of forcible projection; if, however, I hurl a javelin at a shield and strike it, I also hurtle the one against the other; hence the contact of sense.]
I. Transitive senses.
1. To strike, dash, or knock (something against something else, or two things together); † to knock or thrust down with force or violence; † to run (a ship) aground.
| a 1225 [see hurtling vbl. n.]. a 1325 [see hurtled below]. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxv. 22 But the litil children..weren hurtlid togidere. ― Acts xxvii. 41 Whanne we felden into a place of grauel..thei hurtliden [v.r. hurten, 1388 v.r. hurliden, Vulg. impegerunt] the schipp. c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 1758 He foyneth on his feet with his tronchon And he hym hurtleth [so Cambr. and Harl. MSS.; other 4 MSS. hurteth] with his hors adoun. 1388 Wyclif Mark ix. 17 Where euer he takith hym, he hurtlith [1382 hirtith, v.r. hurtlith] hym doun. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. lxviii, There he..pulled awey theire sheldes and hurtled doun many knyghtes. 1884 Child Ballads ii. xli. 378 note, The horse was not sure-footed and hurtled his rider against a tree. |
2. To strike or dash against; to come into collision with.
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 5789 Eithir hors hurtled othir. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. xix. (1869) 185 We..committe þee þat..þou hurtle alle þilke so cruelliche. 1848 Lytton Harold ix. vi, His emotions..so hurtling one the other. 1881 Judd Volcanoes iv. 68 The ragged cindery masses hurtling one another in the atmosphere. |
b. fig. To assail, attack (in words).
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. i. 20 (Camb. MS.) Thow weere wont to hurtelyn and despysen hir with manly wordes [virilibus incessere verbis]. 1804 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. (1843) I. 519 Not the theologian whom Gregory Blunt hurtles. |
3. To drive violently or swiftly; to dash, dart, shoot, fling, cast. App. often confounded with hurl. By Spenser, erron., To brandish, wave.
| [1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 42 His harmefull club he gan to hurtle hye.] a 1678 Marvell Verses iii, An arrow, hurtel'd ere so high. 1833 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poems 1850 I. 190 Such a curse on my head..From the hand of your Zeus has been hurtled along. 1851 C. L. Smith tr. Tasso iv. ix, Whom grand mischance..Down to this horrible den has hurtled forth. 1881 Boy's Own Paper 17 Dec. 184 Pieces of ice are being belched forth or hurtled into the air with a continued noise. |
II. Intransitive senses.
4. To strike together or against something, esp. with violence or noise; to come into collision; to dash, clash, impinge; to meet in shock and encounter. (Also fig.)
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4787 Hard roches and stanes Sal strik togyder, alle attanes..And ilkan agayn other hortel fast. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. met. iv. 130 (Camb. MS.) Ryht so as voys or sown hurtelith to the Eeres and commoeueth hem to herkne. 1388 Wyclif Jer. xlvi. 12 A strong man hurtlide aȝens a strong man, and bothe fellen doun togidere. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iii. viii. 55 Twoo fendes..maden them for to hurtlen ageyn a pyler. c 1450 Merlin 155 Thei hurtled togeder with their bodyes and sheldes and helmes. c 1477 Caxton Jason 57 The ship..hurtlyd again the grounde in suche a random and force that hit was all to broken. c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 55 To traine his enemie farder from the sea beefore they hurteled together in fighte. 1600 Fairfax Tasso vi. xli. 101 Together hurtled both their steedes, and brake Each others necke, the riders lay on ground. 1833–42 Alison Europe lxxxviii. §14 (1849–50) XIII. 122 His strength was unequal to hurtling against their immense masses. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §7. 415 Its fauns dancing on the sward where knights have hurtled together. |
5. To emit a sound of collision; to clatter: said esp. of the clatter, rattle, or rustle of a shower of missiles, or things in motion; hence, to move with clattering or clashing; to come with a crash.
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 115 Thy throte hurtlyth, thy wordes, and thy syght Theyr naturall offyce shall vnto the denye. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. ii. ii. 22 The noise of Battel hurtled in the Ayre. 1761 Gray Fatal Sisters i, Iron-sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darken'd air. 1814 Southey Roderick xxv. 166 The arrows hissed—the javelins hurtled by. 1826 E. Irving Babylon I. iii. 248 The sixth thunder already hurtles in the heavens. 1880 Jefferies Hodge & M. II. v. 118 The rain hurtles through the branches. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. lxxii. 589 The tempest of invective and calumny which hurtles round the head of a presidential candidate. |
6. To dash, rush, hurry; esp. with noise.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxv. xiii, He hurtled aboute, and kest his shelde afore. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iv. 16 All hurtlen [ed. 1609 hurlen] forth. Ibid. viii. 17 The Gyaunt..Came hurtling in full fiers, and forst the knight retyre. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe (1871) 16 Gangs of good fellows that hurtled and bustled thither. 1852 Hawthorne Wonder Bk., Gorgon's Head (1879) 43 They hurtled upward into the air. 1873 in Mem. Alice Cary 240 Pell mell the men came hurtling out. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Hirtle, to hurry. ‘The clud's gan hirtlin alang the hill side.’ |
Hence hurtled ppl. a.
| a 1325 Prose Psalter cxliv. 15 [cxlv. 14] Our Lord..dresceþ vp alle þe hurteled. 1833 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poems 1850 I. 146 Shake The hurtled chains wherein I hang. 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 118 With one acclaim, a forest of right hands Rose through the hurtled air. |