Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to be anxious or impatient.

1906

J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:ii 142: hurt, v. To be anxious. ‘No one is hurting to know.’.

2. (US) of an inanimate object, to cause problems for, to injure.

1916		H.L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap 162: If you hurt that hotel anything like twenty-three hundred dollars’ worth, it must be an interesting sight.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Too Much Pep’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 640: He complains that Don Pep’ is hurting his business.
1983		G. Tate ‘Wynton Marsalis’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 46: Their hip, youthful elan can’t hurt a music that long ago lost much in the way of glamour for young black people.
2004		Guardian G2 20 Sept. 16: He feels that the lyrics of controversial artists [...] have been ‘hurting the music on a monumental level’.

3. (UK Und.) to wound severely, to kill.

1959

H. Salisbury Shook-Up Generation (1961) 46: And I’ve never hurt anyone. (In street language ‘hurt’ means to kill or seriously wound).

4. (drugs) of a drug addict, to suffer the lack of their drug of choice.

1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 329: I’m hurtin bad.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 71: I can tell you’re starting to hurt. This might take a little longer. Why don’t you go into the can and get straight?
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

5. of a person, to suffer; also ironic use.

1965		R. Gary Ski Bum 34: I’m so rich it hurts.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 43: He all right [...] But right now he hurtin’ a little.
1971		Current Sl. V:4 15: Hurt, v. To have things go badly.
1989		(con. 1982–6) T. Williams Cocaine Kids (1990) 104: But he’s in a position where he’s hurting real bad now.