Cweorfan

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Old English verb meaning to crush something into fragments or grind it fine ; to hurl something down or bring it to ruin
2. An archaic verb for pounding or pulverizing material into powder ; a term for casting something to the ground or overturning it
3. Used in Old English to describe crushing an object to bits ; also meaning to fling something down or topple it from a height

Etymology: Cweorfan is an Old English verb meaning "to throw down, to cast down" or "to cut down," and it's a word that never made it into modern English. It belonged to the Anglo-Saxon vocabulary of physical labor and violence, and its closest living relatives are the German "werfen" (to throw) and the Dutch "werpen" (to throw), both descending from the same Germanic root. The Old English form survives in dictionaries and manuscripts, but English speakers stopped using it after the medieval period, when it was gradually replaced by other verbs.