Adjacent Words

Lurch definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LURCH, n. [This is the same word radically as lurk. The primary sense is to run, start, leap or frisk about, as a man or beast that flies from one tree or other object to another to conceal himself. Hence we see the peculiar applicability of this word in seamen's language.]
In seamen's language, a sudden roll of a ship. A lee-lurch is a sudden roll to the leeward, as when a heavy sea strikes the ship on the weather side.
To leave in the lurch, to leave in a difficult situation, or in embarrassment; to leave in a forlorn state or without help.
LURCH, v.i.
1. To roll or pass suddenly to one side, as a ship in a heavy sea.
2. To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lie in ambush or in secret; to lie close. [For this, lurk is now used.]
3. To shift; to play tricks.
I am fain to shuffle, to hedge and to lurch.
LURCH, v.t.
1. To defeat; to disappoint, that is, to evade; as, to lurch the expectation. [Little used.]
2. To steal; to filch; to pilfer. [Little used.]
LURCH, v.t. [L. lurco, a glutton.] To swallow or eat greedily; to devour. [Not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an unsteady uneven gait [syn: lurch, stumble, stagger]
2: a decisive defeat in a game (especially in cribbage)
3: abrupt up-and-down motion (as caused by a ship or other conveyance); "the pitching and tossing was quite exciting" [syn: lurch, pitch, pitching]
4: the act of moving forward suddenly [syn: lurch, lunge] v
1: walk as if unable to control one's movements; "The drunken man staggered into the room" [syn: stagger, reel, keel, lurch, swag, careen]
2: move abruptly; "The ship suddenly lurched to the left" [syn: lurch, pitch, shift]
3: move slowly and unsteadily; "The truck lurched down the road"
4: loiter about, with no apparent aim [syn: prowl, lurch]
5: defeat by a lurch [syn: lurch, skunk]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English lorchen, probably alteration of lurken to lurk Date: 15th century intransitive verb dialect chiefly England to loiter about a place furtively ; prowl transitive verb 1. obsolete steal 2. archaic cheat II. noun Etymology: Middle French lourche, adjective, defeated by a lurch, deceived Date: 1598 a decisive defeat in which an opponent wins a game by more than double the defeated player's score especially in cribbage III. transitive verb Date: circa 1651 1. archaic to leave in the lurch 2. to defeat by a lurch (as in cribbage) IV. noun Etymology: origin unknown Date: 1805 1. a sudden roll of a ship to one side 2. an abrupt jerking, swaying, or tipping movement <the car moved forward with a lurch>; also stagger 2 V. intransitive verb Date: circa 1828 1. to roll or tip abruptly ; pitch 2. to move with a lurch <suddenly lurched forward>; also stagger <has lurched from crisis to crisis — Jere Longman>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. a stagger, a sudden unsteady movement or leaning. --v.intr. stagger, move suddenly and unsteadily. Etymology: orig. Naut., lee-lurch alt. of lee-latch drifting to leeward 2. n. Phrases and idioms: leave in the lurch desert (a friend etc.) in difficulties. Etymology: orig. = a severe defeat in a game, f. F lourche (also the game itself, like backgammon)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lurch Lurch, v. t. 1. To leave in the lurch; to cheat. [Obs.] Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant. --South. 2. To steal; to rob. [Obs.] And in the brunt of seventeen battles since He lurched all swords of the garland. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lurch Lurch, v. i. [L. lurcare, lurcari.] To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up. [Obs.] Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear. --Bacon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lurch Lurch, n. [OF. lourche name of a game; as adj., deceived, embarrassed.] 1. An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables. 2. A double score in cribbage for the winner when his adversary has been left in the lurch. Lady --- has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch. --Walpole. To leave one in the lurch. (a) In the game of cribbage, to leave one's adversary so far behind that the game is won before he has scored thirty-one. (b) To leave one behind; hence, to abandon, or fail to stand by, a person in a difficulty. --Denham. But though thou'rt of a different church, I will not leave thee in the lurch. --Hudibras.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lurch Lurch, n. [Cf. W. llerch, llerc, a frisk, a frisking backward or forward, a loitering, a lurking, a lurking, llercian, llerciaw, to be idle, to frisk; or perh. fr. E. lurch to lurk.] A sudden roll of a ship to one side, as in heavy weather; hence, a swaying or staggering movement to one side, as that by a drunken man. Fig.: A sudden and capricious inclination of the mind.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lurch Lurch, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lurched; p. pr. & vb. n. Lurching.] To roll or sway suddenly to one side, as a ship or a drunken man.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lurch Lurch, v. i. [A variant of lurk.] 1. To withdraw to one side, or to a private place; to lurk. --L'Estrange. 2. To dodge; to shift; to play tricks. I . . . am fain to shuffle, to hedge, and to lurch. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(lurches, lurching, lurched) 1. To lurch means to make a sudden movement, especially forwards, in an uncontrolled way. As the car sped over a pothole she lurched forward... Henry looked, stared, and lurched to his feet... VERB: V adv/prep, V adv/prep, also V • Lurch is also a noun. The car took a lurch forward but grounded in a deep rut. N-COUNT 2. If you say that a person or organization lurches from one thing to another, you mean they move suddenly from one course of action or attitude to another in an uncontrolled way. The state government has lurched from one budget crisis to another... The first round of multilateral trade talks has lurched between hope and despair. VERB: V from n to n, V prep/adv [disapproval] • Lurch is also a noun. The property sector was another casualty of the lurch towards higher interest rates. N-COUNT: usu N prep 3. If someone leaves you in the lurch, they go away or stop helping you at a very difficult time. (INFORMAL) You wouldn't leave an old friend in the lurch, surely? PHRASE: V inflects

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Rob, deprive of, outstrip in acquiring. 2. Steal, appropriate, take privily, filch, purloin, pilfer. 3. Deceive, disappoint, leave in the lurch, defeat, evade. II. v. n. 1. Lurk, skulk, lie close, lie in ambush. 2. Shift, play tricks, contrive, dodge. 3. (Naut.) Roll suddenly.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To be left in the lurch; to be abandoned by one's confederates or party, to be left in a scrape.

Moby Thesaurus

abandon, amble, barge, bend, bent, bias, blunder, bob, bobble, bowl along, bumble, bundle, capsize, careen, career, clump, coggle, come a cropper, crook, dangle, desert, disposition, drag, droop, drop, fall, fall down, fall flat, fall headlong, fall over, fall prostrate, falter, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, flutter, foot, footslog, forsake, gait, gallop, get a cropper, halt, heave, heel, hippety-hop, hitch, hobble, hobbyhorse, hop, inclination, jilt, jog, jolt, jump, labor, librate, limp, list, lock step, lug, lumber, lunge, make heavy weather, mince, mincing steps, nutate, oscillate, pace, paddle, peg, penchant, pendulate, piaffe, piaffer, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitch and toss, plod, plunge, pound, prance, predilection, predisposition, proclivity, propensity, rack, rear, reel, resonate, rock, roll, sashay, saunter, scend, scuff, scuffle, scuttle, seethe, shake, shamble, sheer, shuffle, sidle, single-foot, skew, skip, slink, slither, slog, slouch, slowness, slue, snap, snapper, sprawl, spread-eagle, stagger, stalk, stammer, stamp, step, stomp, straddle, straggle, stride, stroll, strolling gait, struggle, strut, stumble, stump, swag, swagger, sway, swerve, swing, swinging, take a fall, take a flop, take a header, take a pratfall, take a spill, tendency, thrash about, tilt, tilter, tittup, toddle, topple, topple down, topple over, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, traipse, tread, trip, trot, trudge, tumble, turn, turn turtle, twist, twitch, vacillate, veer, vellicate, velocity, vibrate, volutation, waddle, wag, waggle, walk, wallop, wallow, wamble, warp, wave, waver, weave, welter, whirl, wiggle, wobble, yank, yaw