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hurl

verbnounattested in dialogue

  • United States//hɝl//
  • Australia//hɜːl//
  • New Zealand//høːl//
  • Scotland//hʌɾl//
  • //heːl//

To throw (something) with force.

verb

  1. 1

    To throw (something) with force.

    I was standing on the edge of the conning-tower, when a heavy palm suddenly struck me between the shoulders and hurled me forward into space. The drop to the triangular deck forward of the conning-tower might easily have broken a leg for me, or I might have slipped off onto the deck and rolled overboard; but fate was upon my side, as I was only slightly bruised.

    The Tottenham wing was causing havoc down the right and when he broke past the bemused Sasa Balic once again, Bellamy was millimetres from connecting with his cross as the Liverpool striker hurled himself at the ball.

  2. 2

    To utter (harsh or derogatory speech), especially at its target.

    The gangs hurled abuse at each other.

    Tarzan on his part never lost an opportunity to show that he fully reciprocated his foster father's sentiments, and whenever he could safely annoy him or make faces at him or hurl insults upon him from the safety of his mother's arms, or the slender branches of the higher trees, he did so.

    Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, “So! You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, come down from the cross and save yourself!"

    It is Boxing Day in a football ground, and all we can do is sprawl over the plastic, hurling instructions and vague encouragement.

  3. 3

    To participate in the sport of hurling.

    Their cause was helped after the senior footballers were unexpectedly dumped out of the running for the Sam Maguire, meaning Aidan Walsh is available to hurl full-time with the young Rebels -- Walsh scored 1-1 in the semi-final victory over reigning All-Ireland champions Tipperary.

  4. 4

    slangTo vomit.

    I shake and bake the world Rearrange like the chemical Jheri curl, drink til I hurl

  5. 5

    obsoleteTo twist or turn.

    On Nicias a philosopher having his shoes stolen from him, may they, said he, fit his feet that took them away. A wish at the first view very harmless, but there was that in it which poisoned his charity into a malicious revenge. For he himself had hurled or crooked feet, so that in effect he wished the thief to be lame.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTo move rapidly with a noise; to whirl.

  7. 7

    obsoleteTo convey in a wheeled vehicle.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hurlen, of onomatopoeic origin; compare hurry, hurtle.

noun

  1. 1

    A throw, especially a violent throw; a fling.

    He managed a hurl of 50.3 metres.

    The Gods, with horror and amaze, look’d down, Beholding rocks from their firm basis rent; Mountain on mountain thrown, With threatening hurl, that shook th’ aethereal [var.: aerial] firmament!

    I laid down this law with all the girls and expected to receive a hurl of abuse back.

  2. 2

    slangThe act of vomiting.

    Open the window! I've gotta take a hurl.

  3. 3

    slangVomit.

    WAYNE: What I'd really like to do is something extraordinary. Something big. […] But I'll probably end up working at Great America, mopping up hurl and lung butter.

  4. 4

    The act of hitting the sliotar with the hurley.

  5. 5

    slangA conveyance in a wheeled vehicle; a ride in a car, etc.

    Maybe you can give me a hurl in the Bentley one day, when you're in the vicinity.

  6. 6

    obsoleteTumult; riot; hurly-burly.

  7. 7

    obsoleteA table on which fibre is stirred and mixed by beating with a bow spring.

Forms

plural
hurls
past tense
hurled
past participle
hurled
present participle
hurling
third person singular
hurls
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).