hurling

1 8.4

A fast Irish team game like field hockey played with sticks and a small ball

noun
/ˈhɜr.lɪŋ/

: hurling

But the I got really into hurling and Guinness sponsors the senior sort of nationals and the competition for this.

Examples

Hurling!

The Crying Game (1992)
Hurling!

The Crying Game (1992)
Hurling's a fast game, isn't it, fergus?

The Crying Game (1992)
Hurling, flinging, and sledgehammering were Diktonian verbs in frequent use all through the '20s.

Academic text (1997)

Compounds

senior hurling

Jargon

7.0

The top adult competition in the Irish stick-and-ball game

Surface Forms

hurling singular

hurlings plural

Morphology

hurling = hurl (semi-transparent) = hurl + ing

Formed from the verb 'hurl' + the noun-forming '-ing', but as the conventional name of a specific Irish team sport the meaning is specialized beyond the simple action of throwing.

Etymology

Hurling comes from the verb hurl, which means 'to throw', because the sport is all about striking and sending the ball quickly through the air with a stick. The game is Irish, and you can remember the name by the 'hurley' stick players use to 'hurl' the ball.