hurdle

(hûrˈdl)

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.

1. To leap over (a barrier) in or as if in a race.
2. To overcome or deal with successfully; surmount: hurdle a problem.

Related Forms:

• hurˈdler noun