hur·tle

[hur-tl] verb, hur·tled, hur·tling, noun
verb (used without object)
1.
to rush violently; move with great speed: The car hurtled down the highway.
2.
to move or go noisily or resoundingly, as with violent or rapid motion: The sound was deafening, as tons of snow hurtled down the mountain.
3.
Archaic. to strike together or against something; collide.
verb (used with object)
4.
to drive violently; fling; dash.
5.
Archaic. to dash against; collide with.
00:10
Hurtle is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to spend time idly; loaf.
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
noun
6.
Archaic. clash; collision; shock; clatter.

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English hurtle, equivalent to hurt(en) (see hurt) + -le -le

hurdle, hurl, hurtle.


1. speed, fly, race, rush, shoot.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary
hurtle (ˈhɜːtəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
1.  to project or be projected very quickly, noisily, or violently
2.  rare (intr) to collide or crash
 
[C13 hurtlen, from hurten to strike; see hurt1]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

hurtle
early 13c., hurteln, probably frequentative of hurten (see hurt). The essential notion in hurtle is that of forcible collision, in hurl that of forcible projection.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
In the lack of anything to hurtle past, speed had become an abstract, reduced to time and distance measures on a laser gun.
As they flee, two cars hurtle down a nearby dirt road in the opposite direction-straight at the tornado.
There are moments when it seems to hurtle, almost out of control, across an extraordinary range of fact and thought.
And when its characters hurtle though space, they do it with breathtaking energy.
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