hur·dle
(hûŕdl)
[Middle English hurdel, portable panel for temporary fences, from Old English hyrdel.]
noun
- Sports
- A light portable barrier over which competitors must leap in certain races.
- hurdles. A race in which a series of such barriers must be jumped without the competitors' breaking their stride.
- A leaping step made off one foot as means of maximizing spring at the end of an approach, as to a dive.
- An obstacle or difficulty to be overcome: the last hurdle before graduation.
- Chiefly British A portable framework made of intertwined branches or wattle and used for temporary fencing.
- Chiefly British A frame or sledge on which condemned persons were dragged to execution.
verb: -dled, -dling, -dles.
transitive verb
- To leap over (a barrier) in or as if in a race.
- To overcome or deal with successfully; surmount: hurdle a problem.
intransitive verb
- To leap over a barrier or other obstacle.
derivatives
- huŕdler
- noun