Etymology: < hurl v. Various groups of senses have arisen independently from different senses of the verb, and are practically distinct words.

Etymology: Akin in form and (in branch 1) in sense, to Low German hurreln to toss, sling, throw, precipitate, thrust, push, dash: compare also modern Dutch horrel a push, a jog. The connection of the other senses is doubtful; but sense 10 agrees with modern East Frisian hurreln to roar or bluster as the wind; compare Upper German dialect hurlen to roll, rumble as thunder. None of these continental words can be traced back even to the Middle period; and they are generally connected with the onomatopoeic hurr expressing rapid motion. In early Middle English there appears to have been frequent confusion of hurl and hurtle, partly scribal, but largely through contact of sense in the notion ‘dash’; similarly also of hurl and harl to drag; in later times there seems to have been association with whirl, especially in hurlpit, hurlpool, hurlwind.