hurter

hurt  (hûrt)

v. hurt, hurt·ing, hurts

v.tr.

1. To cause physical damage or pain to; injure.

2. To cause mental or emotional suffering to; distress.

3. To cause physical damage to; harm: The frost hurt the orange crop.

4. To be detrimental to; hinder or impair: The scandal hurt the candidate's chances for victory.

v.intr.

1. To have or produce a feeling of physical pain or discomfort: My leg hurts.

2.

a. To cause distress or damage: Parental neglect hurts.

b. To have an adverse effect: "It never hurt to have a friend at court" (Tom Clancy).

3. Informal To experience distress, especially of a financial kind; be in need: "Even in a business that's hurting there's always a guy who can make a buck" (New York).

n.

1. Something that hurts; a pain, injury, or wound.

2. Mental suffering; anguish: getting over the hurt of reading the letter.

3. A wrong; harm: What hurt have you done to them?

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[Middle English hurten, possibly from Old French hurter, to bang into, perhaps of Germanic origin.]

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hurter n.

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hurter [ˈhɜːtə]

n

an object or part that gives protection, such as a concrete block that protects a building from traffic or the shoulder of an axle against which the hub strikes

[C14 hurtour, from Old French hurtoir something that knocks or strikes, from hurter to hurt¹]