Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Hurt in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels hurt as verb. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913verb
Hurt

[OE. hurten, hirten, horten, herten; prob. fr. OF. hurter, heurter, to knock, thrust, strike, F. heurter; cf. W. hyrddu to push, drive, assault, hwrdd a stroke, blow, push; also, a ram, the orig. sense of the verb thus perhaps being, to butt as a ram; cf. D. horten to push, strike, MHG. hurten, both prob. fr. Old French.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordhurt
Part of speechverb
Historical etymology[OE. hurten, hirten, horten, herten; prob. fr. OF. hurter, heurter, to knock, thrust, strike, F. heurter; cf. W. hyrddu to push, drive, assault, hwrdd a stroke, blow, push; also, a ram, the orig. sense of the verb thus perhaps being, to butt as a ram; cf. D. horten to push, strike, MHG. hurten, both prob. fr. Old French.]
Selected historical definitionTo cause physical pain to; to do bodily harm to; to wound or bruise painfully.
Signed record IDwebster1913-hurt-verb-c726a22d460d
Source locatorCIDE.H, paragraph 7450; Gutenberg eBook 663
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 663Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "hurt" is labeled verb. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. hurten, hirten, horten, herten; prob. fr. OF. hurter, heurter, to knock, thrust, strike, F. heurter; cf. W. hyrddu to push, drive, assault, hwrdd a stroke, blow, push; also, a ram, the orig. sense of the verb thus perhaps being, to butt as a ram; cf. D. horten to push, strike, MHG. hurten, both prob. fr. Old French.]" The selected historical definition says: "To cause physical pain to; to do bodily harm to; to wound or bruise painfully."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

More released H records

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noun

Hope

[AS., akin to D. hoop, hope, Sw. hopp, Dan. haab, MHG. hoffe. Hope in forlorn hope is different word. See Forlorn hope, under Forlorn.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadverb

Hard

[OE. harde, AS. hearde.]

Webster 1913 exact recordverb

Happen

[OE. happenen, hapnen. See Hap to happen.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Hold

[D. hol hole, hollow. See Hole.]

Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Hate

[OE. hate, hete, AS. hete; akin to D. haat, G. hass, Icel. hatr, SW. hat, Dan. had, Goth. hatis. Cf. Hate, v.]

Webster 1913 exact record

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