Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Lurch
Lurch
,Verb.
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.
Lurch
,Noun.
[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
I will not
leave thee in the lurch
. Hudibras.
Lurch
,Verb.
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
He
lurched
all swords of the garland. Shakespeare
Lurch
,Noun.
[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.
Lurch
,Verb.
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
. Shakespeare
2.
(Zool.)
One of a mongrel breed of dogs said to have been a cross between the sheep dog, greyhound, and spaniel. It hunts game silently, by scent, and is often used by poachers.
Webster 1828 Edition
Lurch
LURCH
,Noun.
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
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2024
Lurch
Lurch
lurch
lurch
See also: Lurch
English
Noun
lurch (plural lurches)
- A sudden or unsteady movement.
- the lurch of a ship, or of a drunkard
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4
- Yet I hoped by grouting at the earth below it to be able to dislodge the stone at the side; but while I was considering how best to begin, the candle flickered, the wick gave a sudden lurch to one side, and I was left in darkness.
Translations
sudden or unsteady movement
Verb
lurch (third-person singular simple present lurches, present participle lurching, simple past and past participle lurched)
- To make such a sudden, unsteady movement.
Translations
to make a sudden, unsteady movement
|
|
See also
Etymology 2
Verb
lurch (third-person singular simple present lurches, present participle lurching, simple past and past participle lurched)
- (obsolete) To swallow or eat greedily; to devour; hence, to swallow up.
- Francis Bacon
- Too far off from great cities, which may hinder business; too near them, which lurcheth all provisions, and maketh everything dear.
- Francis Bacon
Etymology 3
French lourche (“deceived, embarrassed; also the name of a game”).
Noun
lurch (countable and uncountable, plural lurches)
- An old game played with dice and counters; a variety of the game of tables.
- A double score in cribbage for the winner when his/her adversary has been left in the lurch.
- Walpole
- Lady Blandford has cried her eyes out on losing a lurch.
- Walpole
Verb
lurch (third-person singular simple present lurches, present participle lurching, simple past and past participle lurched)
- (obsolete) To leave someone in the lurch; to cheat.
- South
- Never deceive or lurch the sincere communicant.
- South
- (obsolete) To steal; to rob.
- Shakespeare
- And in the brunt of seventeen battles since / He lurched all swords of the garland.
- Shakespeare