hurry

plural hurries

1. countableuncountableA rushed action.

   Why are you in such a big hurry?

   1 more example

   At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […]

   1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, →OCLC, page 202

2. countableuncountableAn urgency.

   There is no hurry on that paperwork.

3. countableuncountableAmerican footballAn incidence of a defensive pressure that forces the quarterback to throw the ball earlier than intended or rush their decision, often leading to an incomplete pass or failed play.

   At Alabama, Jedrick Wills Jr. anchored the right side of the offensive line for two years, allowing only one sack and three-and-a-half quarterback hurries on 714 snaps last season.

   2020 April 23, Ken Belson, Ben Shpigel, “Full Round 1 2020 N.F.L. Picks and Analysis”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2020

4. countableuncountableentertainmentA tremolando passage for violins, etc., accompanying an exciting situation.

present singular third person hurries · participle present hurrying · participle past hurried · past hurried

1. intransitiveTo do things quickly.

   He's hurrying because he's late.

   2 more examples

   There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.[…]Stewards, carrying cabin trunks, swarm in the corridors. Passengers wander restlessly about or hurry, with futile energy, from place to place.

   1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, →OCLC

   When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him.

   1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC

2. intransitiveOften with up, to speed up the rate of doing something.

   If you don't hurry (up) you won't finish on time.

3. transitiveTo cause to be done quickly.
4. transitiveTo hasten; to impel to greater speed; to urge on.

   They hurried him aboard a bark.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]

   1 more example

   the rapid Stream presently draws him in , carries him away , and hurries him down violently.

   1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London

5. transitiveTo impel to precipitate or thoughtless action; to urge to confused or irregular activity.

   And wild amazement hurries up and down / The little number of your doubtful friends.

   c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

6. businessTo put: to convey coal in the mine, e.g. from the working to the tramway.

   Elizabeth Day, aged seventeen […] "I have been nearly nine years in the pit. I trapped for two years when I first went, and have hurried ever since. I have hurried for my father until a year ago. I have to help to riddle and fill, […]

   1842, The Condition and Treatment of the Children Employed in the Mines, page 45