• hurry •
Pronunciation: hêr-ree • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, noun
Meaning: To move or make move with great(er) speed or haste.
Notes: This word is an authentic English word, so it also comes with a personal noun, hurrier while the present participle, hurrying, serves as adjective and noun. It also has an adjective, hurrisome, meaning "inclined to hurry". Note the replacement of the final Y to I in this word should you choose to use it.
In Play: The general sense of this word is "to speed up": "Alcohol always hurries its drinkers into all sorts of trouble." It can also mean "to rush": "As the mountain snow melted, the water hurried into the lakes that provided the city's water supply."
Word History: Today's Good Word was popularized by Shakespeare, probably a variant of Middle English hurren "to vibrate rapidly, buzz", akin to hurly as in hurly-burly and hurtle. It originates in PIE k'ers-/k'ors- "to run", source also of Sanskrit kurdati "springs, bounds", Latin currere "to run" and currus "cart", Breton karr "chariot, cart", Welsh carrog "carriage", Icelandic hross "horse", German Ross "stallion" (from hross), and English horse. Latin currus became Vulgar Latin carra, which became Anglo-French carre, when English snitched it and made car from it. (Now a word of thanks for David Myer, who started an interesting discussion in the Agora with his suggestion of today's ordinary yet surprising Good Word.)
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