hur·dle (hûr?dl)n.1. Sports a. A light portable barrier over which competitors must leap in certain races.b. hurdles A race in which a series of such barriers must be jumped without the competitors’ breaking their stride.c. 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. hur·dled, hur·dling, hur·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.]hur?dler n.American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.hurdling (?h??d?l??) n (Athletics (Track & Field)) athletics the act of running a hurdle raceCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014