hur·dle (hûr'dl)
n.

1. Sports.
   1. A light portable barrier over which competitors must leap in certain races.
   2. hurdles A race in which a series of such barriers must be jumped without the competitors' breaking their stride.
   3. 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., -dled, -dling, -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.]

hurdler hur'dler n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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